November 2011 – Page 3 – Oral Cancer News

HPV Vaccination Could Reduce the Number of Screening Procedures

The National Journal By Sophie Quinton Widespread vaccination against cervical cancer could reduce the need for burdensome screenings, U.S. and Finnish researchers said on Tuesday. A study published in the journal Lancet Oncology show that GlaxoSmithKline’s Cervarix vaccine, which protects against two strains of human papillomavirus, or HPV, was more than 93 percent effective in preventing precancerous lesions in women who had never been infected and completely protected young women from the strains of virus targeted by the vaccine. The vaccine also reduced cancer risk for women who had already been infected by HPV, but was far less effective. A second study found that Cervarix can protect against rarer strains of HPV that also cause cancer. Neither study looked at Gardisil, the other licensed HPV vaccine, which protects against four strains of HPV—including the two targeted by Cervarix. The efficacy of vaccination adds fuel to two debates: how often women need to undergo cervical cancer screenings, and how important it is to reach girls—and boys—with HPV vaccinations before they become sexually active. The U.S. Preventive Services Task Force, American Cancer Society, and other clinical groups have agreed that the pap smear—the screening for cervical cancer—does not need to be done every year for most women, and suggest that screenings begin at age 21. For vaccinated women, the need for screening might be further reduced. “Provided that organised vaccination programs achieve high coverage in early adolescents before sexual debut, HPV vaccination has the potential to substantially reduce the incidence of cervical [...]

Charlotte Parker2011-11-08T20:47:32-07:00November, 2011|Oral Cancer News|

E-Cigarette Controversy

Source: The New York Times If you want a truly frustrating job in public health, try getting people to stop smoking. Even when researchers combine counseling and encouragement with nicotine patches and gum, few smokers quit. Recently, though, experimenters in Italy had more success by doing less. A team led by Riccardo Polosa of the University of Catania recruited 40 hard-core smokers — ones who had turned down a free spot in a smoking-cessation program — and simply gave them a gadget already available in stores for $50. This electronic cigarette, or e-cigarette, contains a small reservoir of liquid nicotine solution that is vaporized to form an aerosol mist. The user “vapes,” or puffs on the vapor, to get a hit of the addictive nicotine (and the familiar sensation of bringing a cigarette to one’s mouth) without the noxious substances found in cigarette smoke. After six months, more than half the subjects in Dr. Polosa’s experiment had cut their regular cigarette consumption by at least 50 percent. Nearly a quarter had stopped altogether. Though this was just a small pilot study, the results fit with other encouraging evidence and bolster hopes that these e-cigarettes could be the most effective tool yet for reducing the global death toll from smoking. But there’s a powerful group working against this innovation — and it’s not Big Tobacco. It’s a coalition of government officials and antismoking groups who have been warning about the dangers of e-cigarettes and trying to ban their sale. The controversy [...]

Oral Cancer Foundation News Team - A2011-11-08T13:22:07-07:00November, 2011|Oral Cancer News|

FDA Approves Cetuximab for Metastatic Head and Neck Cancer

Source: MedScape News Today The US Food and Drug Administration (FDA) has approved cetuximab (Erbitux, Bristol-Myers Squibb ) for use in combination with chemotherapy for the treatment of metastatic head and neck cancer. Data show that when combined with cisplatin-based chemotherapy, cetuximab improved overall survival, compared with chemotherapy alone. According to the researchers, this is the first time in 3 decades — since cisplatin was first used in head and neck cancer — that any regimen has improved on its success. The improved survival that was seen after cetuximab was added to the regimen (at a median of 2.7 months) is "therefore notable." Cetuximab was approved in the United States in 2004 for the treatment of epidermal growth-factor receptor–positive late-stage colon cancer in patients who no longer responded to chemotherapy. In 2006, it was approved for use in combination with radiation therapy for the treatment of locally or regionally advanced squamous cell carcinoma of the head and neck. This latest approval expands on that to cover metastatic head and neck cancer. The ability of cetuximab "to extend the lives of patients with head and neck cancer is an important tool for oncologists, who often rely on a multitreatment approach for patients," said Richard Pazdur, MD, director of the Office of Hematology and Oncology Drug Products in the FDA's Center for Drug Evaluation and Research, in a statement." Given the aggressive nature of head and neck cancers that cannot be treated with surgery and radiation, it is important that patients have [...]

Oral Cancer Foundation News Team - A2011-11-08T12:00:48-07:00November, 2011|Oral Cancer News|

Why HPV vaccination of boys may be easier

Source: www.npr.org/blogs/health Author: Richard Knox When the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention recommended a half-dozen years ago that preteen girls be vaccinated against human papillomavirus, two things happened. A lot of parents and some conservative groups were jarred by the idea of immunizing young girls against a sexually transmitted virus. And uptake of the vaccine has been poor — only about a third of 13- to 17-year-old girls have gotten the full three-shot series. Now, in the wake of a CDC expert panel's recommendation to extend vaccination to 11- and 12-year-old boys, there's reason to think things might be different this time. "There's been a surprisingly muted reaction," says Dr. Don Dizon, a Brown University oncologist. "We tend to believe that girls are chaste and are going to 'save themselves for marriage.' But, you know, sexual activity is something that's almost expected of boys." Seventeen-year-old Connor Perruccello-McClellan agrees. The idea that teenage girls might have sex is "just a touchy issue, a taboo, I guess," he says. "It's just not as accepted for girls." Perruccello-McClellan, a senior at Providence Country Day School in Rhode Island, is among the 1 percent of U.S. males who have already been vaccinated against HPV. That's because Rhode Island has one of the nation's most aggressive campaigns to vaccinate schoolchildren against nine different infections, including HPV. Still, like most people, he thought HPV vaccine protects only against cervical cancer — a notion that may have abetted the double standard associated with it. Cervical cancer [...]

Oral Cancer Foundation News Team - A2011-11-07T14:46:21-07:00November, 2011|Oral Cancer News|

A spitting image of health

Source: http://www.sciencenews.org Author: Susan Galdos Rinse and spit. Someday soon, doctors may join dentists in issuing these simple instructions. And before leaving the office, you might know whether you’re at risk for oral cancer. Additional tests on that same ptui may reveal whether you show signs of certain other cancers or diseases such as diabetes and Alzheimer’s. Saliva — the frothy fluid that helps clean the mouth, digest food and fight tooth decay — carries many of the same proteins and other molecules found in blood and urine. Scientists have long been interested in mining a person’s mix of these compounds for clues to diagnosing diseases. Three years ago, these efforts got a boost when researchers completed a preliminary master list of the proteins found in spit — 1,166 of them. Since then, scientists have nearly doubled the length of the protein list, while identifying changes in the salivary protein profile that are linked to disease. Other labs are delving into genetic material found in human saliva, looking for variations in gene activity that might signal disease risk. Already, studies show that diseases such as breast cancer, type 2 diabetes and Alzheimer’s leave specific and identifiable signatures in saliva. Such biomarkers have also been found for Sjögren syndrome, an autoimmune condition that affects production of tears and saliva. And proteins known to be related to heart activity, including a handful whose levels are elevated during a heart attack, have also shown up in spittle. Such findings — combined with the [...]

Oral Cancer Foundation News Team - A2011-11-06T10:34:31-07:00November, 2011|Oral Cancer News|

EU grants orphan drug status to BioAlliance Pharma’s clonidine Lauriad

Source: www.pharmabiz.com Author: staff European Commission has granted orphan drug designation to BioAlliance Pharma SA's clonidine Lauriad for prevention of radiotherapy-induced oral mucositis in patients with head and neck cancer. Oral mucositis is a very frequent inflammation of the oral mucosa in head and neck cancer patients treated with radio- and chemotherapy (98,000 new patients estimated per year in Europe). Severe oral mucositis occurs in 60% of these patients and may induce intense oral pain and eating disability requiring artificial nutritional support. In 20 to 30% of cases, patients have to be hospitalized and the disease may result in a modification or a stop of the radiotherapy treatment in more than 10% of them. Radiotherapy-induced oral mucositis has currently no preventive cure. In Europe, the orphan designation is granted for medicinal products in diseases affecting less than 5/10,000 patients. This status permits to benefit from incentives related to the clinical development, thus enabling a faster registration, and an extra protection with a 10- year commercial exclusivity after market authorization. “The European designation for clonidine Lauriad as an orphan drug is key in shortening its development timeline, optimizing costs and reinforcing its future market access. Clonidine Lauriad, currently in Phase II clinical trial, is the second product from our “Orphan Oncology Products” portfolio to be granted orphan status in Europe. The portfolio comprises assets with high commercial potential and will leverage our future growth”, stated COO, Judith Greciet. Dedicated to cancer and supportive care treatment with a focus on resistance targeting [...]

Oral Cancer Foundation News Team - A2011-11-06T10:14:20-07:00November, 2011|Oral Cancer News|

ADA updates guidelines for managing ONJ risk patients

Source: www.drbicuspid.com Author: Rabia Mughal, Contributing Editor A patient receiving antiresorptive therapy for the prevention and treatment of osteoporosis has a low risk of developing osteonecrosis of the jaw (ONJ), and benefits of the medication outweigh the risk of ONJ, according to an advisory statement from the ADA. The statement, "Managing the Care of Patients Receiving Antiresorptive Therapy for Prevention and Treatment of Osteoporosis," is based on a literature review by an advisory committee of the ADA Council on Scientific Affairs and updates ADA's 2008 advisory statement (Journal of the American Dental Association, November 2011, Vol. 142:11, pp. 1243-1251). ONJ associated with antiresorptive agents has mostly been referred to as bisphosphonate-associated ONJ, but nonbisphosphonate antiresorptive agents are now available that also could be associated with ONJ, the panel noted. That is why they refer to the condition as antiresorptive agent-induced ONJ (ARONJ). A relatively new condition, bisphosphonate-associated ONJ, has received tremendous media attention because of a flurry of lawsuits against the makers of Fosamax and Zometa alleging that the medications led to ONJ. These lawsuits have been a factor in raising patients' and dentists' awareness of the condition, according to Helen Ristic, PhD, director of scientific information for the ADA's Division of Science and one of the panelists who contributed to the report. "The first calls the ADA received from dentists about ARONJ were in response to advertisements by lawyers and media reports," she said. Still, much about the condition remains a mystery, in part because there has not been [...]

Oral Cancer Foundation News Team - A2011-11-06T10:10:08-07:00November, 2011|Oral Cancer News|

Vibrating Gel May Give New Voice to Throat-Cancer Patients

Source: Businessweek.com Nov. 1 (Bloomberg) -- Bob Langer may be the last, best hope for aging rockers. Just ask Roger Daltrey, lead singer for The Who. Langer, the Massachusetts Institute of Technology researcher whose work has created two dozen biotech startups, is developing a gel that can vibrate up to 200 times a second -- replicating the action of human vocal cords -- to rejuvenate the damaged voices of singers such as Daltrey and Aerosmith’s Steven Tyler, both of whom have contributed funding for the project, along with actress Julie Andrews. More than 13,000 people diagnosed each year in the U.S. with throat tumors may end up being helped by the effort of the singers, the scientist and the surgeon who brought them together, Harvard University’s Steven Zeitels. Langer and Zeitels plan to test the gel next year in a cancer patient. “Unless you’ve been touched personally, it’s difficult to see, but there are millions of people who have no voice whatsoever,” said Daltrey, who was operated on for precancerous lesions in his throat two years ago, and couldn’t speak at all for two weeks. The gel will be injected into the vocal cords. Once there, it behaves the same way as the uninjured membrane, responding to breath and muscles tension by vibrating as if it was the real thing, Zeitels said. The research has been funded by the nonprofit patient organization, The Institute of Laryngology and Voice Restoration, where Andrews is an honorary chairwoman. ‘Sound of Music’ The research, [...]

Oral Cancer Foundation News Team - A2011-11-01T11:23:12-07:00November, 2011|Oral Cancer News|

The Oral Cancer Foundation Helps Sponsor HPV/Oral Cancer Study

Source: Jada.org An increase in the incidence and survival of oropharyngeal cancer in the United States since 1984 can be attributed to the human papilloma-virus (HPV) infection, say researchers in an article published online Oct. 3 in Journal of Clinical Oncology. The results of previous studies have shown that oropharyngeal cancers can be divided into two separate diseases with distinct causes: HPV-negative cancers, which are associated with tobacco and alcohol use; and HPV-positive cancers, which are linked to certain types of HPV, a sexually transmitted virus. Patients with HPV-positive oropharyngeal cancer tend to be younger than and to have better survival rates than patients with HPV-negative cancer. To determine HPV infection’s role, researchers led by Anil K. Chaturvedi, PhD, National Cancer Institute, National Institutes of Health, Bethesda, Md., tested for HPV infection 271 archived samples of cancerous oropharyngeal tissue collected between 1984 and 2004 at three population-based cancer registries located in Hawaii, Iowa and Los Angeles in the National Cancer Institute’s Surveillance, Epidemiology and End Results Residual Tissue Repositories Program. By using a variety of molecular assays, researchers found that the proportion of oropharyngeal cancers that were HPV-positive—particularly among men—increased over time, from 16.3 percent for cancers diagnosed from 1984 to 1989 to 72.7 percent for cancers diagnosed from 2000 to 2004. They also found that the incidence of HPV-negative oropharyngeal cancers declined by 50 percent between 1988 and 2004, likely due to declines in smoking and tobacco use. According to senior author Maura Gillison, MD, PhD, a professor of [...]

Oral Cancer Foundation News Team - A2011-11-01T09:48:55-07:00November, 2011|OCF In The News, Oral Cancer News|