2018 – Page 5 – Oral Cancer News

New Book: Vaccines Have Always Had Haters

Date: 09/23/18 Source: National Public Radio Author: Susan Brink Vaccinations have saved millions, maybe billions, of lives, says Michael Kinch, associate vice chancellor and director of the Center for Research Innovation in Business at Washington University in St. Louis. Those routine shots every child is expected to get can fill parents with hope that they're protecting their children from serious diseases. But vaccines also inspire fear that something could go terribly wrong. That's why Kinch's new book is aptly named: Between Hope and Fear: A History of Vaccines and Human Immunity. He wrote it, he says, to present the science behind vaccines and to highlight the fallacy of anti-vaccine movements. NPR talked with Kinch about vaccines. This interview has been edited for clarity and length. The first attempts to control smallpox go back at least 1,000 years and didn't involve vaccines. Can you describe those attempts? Smallpox was probably killing a half a million people a year in Europe alone. The medical community had adopted a practice called nasal insufflation. You could take a little bit of the material from a smallpox scab, turn it into a powder and have a child snort it into the nose. Or you could intentionally scrape the skin and put material from a smallpox pustule under the skin of a healthy individual. That was called variolation. Those procedures caused smallpox, and people got sick. But far fewer of them died because most people would get a less virulent form of disease than if they [...]

Charlotte Parker2018-09-24T09:59:48-07:00September, 2018|Oral Cancer News|

Penn-led study raises hopes for vaccine to treat head and neck cancer

Date: 09/21/18 Source: The Inquire, philly.com Author: Marie McCullough The patient's head and neck cancer came roaring back, spreading to his lymph nodes and skin, which developed bleeding tumors. Yet despite a grim prognosis, that man is alive and cancer-free more than two years later. In a study led by the University of Pennsylvania and published Friday, researchers hypothesize that his remarkable remission is due to a promising combination: an experimental cancer vaccine that activated his disease-fighting T cells, plus Opdivo, one of the revolutionary "checkpoint inhibitor" drugs that cut a brake on the immune system. "Of course, I'm biased," said Charu Aggarwal, the Penn oncologist who led the study. "In my career, I haven't seen a vaccine as impactful as this." However, the remission may have been due to Opdivo alone; the study lacks data to rule out that possibility. Robert Ferris, director of the University of Pittsburgh Medical Center's Hillman Cancer Center and head of the pivotal study leading to approval of Opdivo, called the Penn-led study "an important intermediate step exploring a strategy that we hope will work." Conventional vaccines prevent diseases by priming the immune system to recognize the distinctive "antigens" on invading microbes. Therapeutic cancer vaccines, like the one in this study, are intended to work after cancer develops by provoking a heightened immune response. Despite decades of research, this approach remains experimental. The only approved product, the prostate cancer vaccine Provenge, was barely effective; the maker filed for bankruptcy in 2015. A major obstacle to treatment vaccines [...]

Charlotte Parker2018-09-24T09:42:13-07:00September, 2018|Oral Cancer News|

Youth vaping has soared in 2018, new data show

Source: www.wsj.com Authors: Betsy McKay and Jennifer Maloney Number of high schoolers who used e-cigarettes in the past 30 days has risen some 75% in 2018 Teen use of e-cigarettes has soared this year, according to new research conducted in 2018 that suggest fast-changing youth habits will pose a challenge for public-health officials, schools and parents. The number of high-school students who used e-cigarettes in the past 30 days has risen roughly 75% since last year, according to a person who has seen new preliminary federal data. That would equate to about three million, or about 20% of high-school students, up from 1.73 million, or 11.7% of high-school students in the most recently published federal numbers from 2017. Nearly a third of 13-to-18-year-olds who responded to a separate survey conducted by The Wall Street Journal with research firm Mercury Analytics said they currently vape. The new numbers offer a rare look at evolving teen vaping habits. Sales of e-cigarettes are expected nearly to double this year over 2017, and researchers have wondered how much of that increase is because of teen use. But there can be a long lag time between the collection of data and public reports. Most of the teens who vape said they are doing it for reasons other than to quit smoking, according to the Journal’s survey conducted in 49 states in May. More than half said they do it because they like the flavors that e-cigarette liquids come in and they think vaping is fun. [...]

Oral Cancer Foundation News Team - A2018-09-21T08:57:52-07:00September, 2018|Oral Cancer News|

RJR Slapped with $6.5M verdict over musician’s mouth cancer

Source: blog.cvn.com Author: Arlin Crisco R.J. Reynolds was hit with a $6.5 million verdict Tuesday for the part jurors found the company played in the mouth cancer a Florida musician developed after years of smoking. Harewood v. R.J. Reynolds, 2007-CA-46331. The award followed the Florida 11th Circuit Court jury’s conclusion that nicotine addiction and cigarettes caused the oral cancer doctors diagnosed Glenn Simmons with in 1995. Simmons, a bassist in bands throughout much of his life, began smoking as a teenager and smoked about a pack a day for decades. He died in 2003, at age 48, from complications related to cancer-related radiation therapy. Monday's verdict found Reynolds liable on fraud and conspiracy claims related to a sweeping scheme to hide the dangers of cigarettes. However, while jurors awarded Simmons' daughter, Hanifah Harewood $6.5 million in compensatory damages, they rejected a claim for punitives in the case. The case is one of thousands of Florida’s Engle progeny lawsuits against the nation’s tobacco companies. They stem from a 2006 Florida Supreme Court decision decertifying Engle v. Liggett Group Inc., a class-action tobacco suit originally filed in 1994. Although the state’s supreme court ruled that Engle progeny cases must be tried individually, it found plaintiffs could rely on certain jury findings in the original case, including the determination that tobacco companies had placed a dangerous, addictive product on the market and had conspired to hide the dangers of smoking through much of the 20th century. In order to be entitled to those [...]

Oral Cancer Foundation News Team - A2018-09-20T19:26:41-07:00September, 2018|Oral Cancer News|

HPV-related cancer rates outpace vaccinations

Source: www.ctpost.com Author: Cara Rosner, Conn. Health Cancers linked to the human papillomavirus, commonly called HPV, rose dramatically in a 15-year period, even as the rates of young people being vaccinated climbed, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention reported. The 43,371 new cases of HPV-associated cancers reported nationwide in 2015 marked a 44 percent jump from the 30,115 cases reported in 1999, according to a CDC analysis. HPV vaccination rates have improved over the years, but not fast enough to stem the rise in cancers, the CDC said. Oropharyngeal, or throat, cancer was the most common HPV-associated cancer in 2015, accounting for 15,479 cases among males and 3,438 among females. HPV infects about 14 million people each year. Between 1999 and 2015 rates of throat and vulvar cancer increased, vaginal and cervical cancer rates declined, and penile cancer rates were stable, according to the CDC. “The (overall rise) seems to be mostly driven by oropharyngeal cancers,” said Dr. Sangini Sheth, assistant professor of obstetrics, gynecology and reproductive sciences at Yale School of Medicine. “Vaccination is key to preventing those cancers,” said Sheth, who also is an associate medical director and director of colposcopy and cervical dysplasia at Yale New Haven Hospital’s Women’s Center. “Oropharyngeal cancer is most common in men, and HPV vaccination rates, while they are rising in the U.S. and Connecticut, became routine for boys later (than girls). And the rate of vaccinations among boys has definitely lagged that of girls. Hopefully, we will see vaccinating our [...]

Oral Cancer Foundation News Team - A2018-09-19T08:54:39-07:00September, 2018|Oral Cancer News|

Men with more than two oral sex partners are more likely to contract HPV

Source: www.nzherald.co.nz Author: Rebecca Sullivan Men who have had more than two oral sex partners are "significantly" more likely to contract HPV, a viral infection that can develop into oesophageal cancer, a new study has found. HPV, or the human papillomavirus, causes about 20-25 per cent of oesophageal cancer cases, said Professor Shan Rajendra from UNSW's Ingham Institute. Men are three times more likely than women to contract HPV through oral sex. Smoking and drinking are also big risk factors causing oesophageal cancer, reports news.com.au. Actor Michael Douglas, who smoked and drank excessively, famously went public about the cause of his own oesophageal cancer after being diagnosed in August 2010. "This particular cancer is caused by HPV [human papillomavirus], which actually comes about from cunnilingus." Douglas, the husband of Catherine Zeta Jones, told The Guardian in 2013. "It's a sexually transmitted disease that causes cancer." The study was presented at the Gastroenterological Society's annual Australian Gastroenterology Week last weekend and was also published in the academic journal Diseases of the Oesophagus. "What we found was that if you had more than two oral sex partners in your lifetime, then you increase your risk of HPV-associated esophageal cancer significantly," Professor Rajendra said. "It's sexually transmitted. You swallow the virus and it gets absorbed by the body and gets into the lining of the oesophagus. In some people it doesn't get cleared by the immune system. In most people it gets cleared but if it doesn't get cleared it can cause cancers [...]

Oral Cancer Foundation News Team - A2018-09-16T06:53:52-07:00September, 2018|Oral Cancer News|

FDA to review application to modify health warning on Altria subsidiary’s smokeless tobacco product

Source: www.richmond.com Author: staff The U.S. Food and Drug Administration will review a request from an Altria Group Inc. subsidiary that wants to make the claim that a smokeless tobacco product is less dangerous than cigarettes. U.S. Smokeless Tobacco Co. said Friday that the FDA has agreed to do a substantive review of its “modified risk” application for Copenhagen Snuff Fine Cut. The company submitted the request for review earlier this year. The snuff company wants to be able to use the claim “If you smoke consider this: Switching completely to this product from cigarettes reduces risk of lung cancer.” The FDA requires smokeless tobacco products to carry statements that warn about the risk of mouth cancer, gum disease, tooth loss and addiction and that the product is not a safe alternative to cigarettes. The warnings are to be randomly rotated on packaging. “We filed this application because we think adult smokers looking for potential reduced risk alternatives to cigarettes should have accurate information about the relative risks of Copenhagen Snuff,” Joe Murillo, Altria Client Services senior vice president for regulatory affairs, said in a statement. The FDA defines modified risk tobacco products as tobacco products that are sold or distributed for use to reduce harm or the risk of tobacco-related disease associated with commercially marketed tobacco products. In the review process, the FDA’s Tobacco Products Scientific Advisory Committee vets the scientific claims and makes a recommendation. The FDA has reviewed more than 30 modified risk applications from tobacco companies [...]

Oral Cancer Foundation News Team - A2018-09-16T06:48:11-07:00September, 2018|Oral Cancer News|

Scientists map interactions between head and neck cancer and HPV virus

Source: medicalxpress.com Author: staff, Gladstone Institutes Human papillomavirus (HPV) is widely known to cause nearly all cases of cervical cancer. However, you might not know that HPV also causes 70 percent of oropharyngeal cancer, a subset of head and neck cancers that affect the mouth, tongue, and tonsils. Although vaccines that protect against HPV infection are now available, they are not yet widespread, especially in men, nor do they address the large number of currently infected cancer patients. Patients with head and neck cancer caused by HPV respond very differently to treatments than those whose cancer is associated with the consumption of tobacco products. The first group generally has better outcomes, with almost 80 percent of patients surviving longer than 5 years after diagnosis, compared to only 45-50 percent for patients with tobacco-related cancers. To better understand what might cause these differences, a team of scientists led by Nevan J. Krogan, Ph.D., senior investigator at the Gladstone Institutes, is taking a unique approach by focusing on the cancer-causing virus. They recently mapped the interactions between all HPV proteins and human proteins for the first time. Their findings are published today in the journal Cancer Discovery. "With our study, we identified several new protein interactions that were previously not known to cause cancer, expanding our knowledge of the oncogenic roles of the HPV virus" said Krogan, who is also a professor of cellular and molecular pharmacology at UC San Francisco (UCSF) and the director of the Quantitative Biosciences Institute (QBI) at [...]

Oral Cancer Foundation News Team - A2018-09-13T08:58:41-07:00September, 2018|Oral Cancer News|

Why I tell Everyone I have HPV

Source: bustle.com Author: Emma McGowen I have HPV. Or, to be more accurate, I was diagnosed with HPV when I was 19 and found a little bump on my vulva in an area where there was no chance it could be an ingrown hair. The nurse at the health clinic at my college put acid on it, watched while it turned white, and told me it was definitely a wart. That was the one and only “outbreak” I’ve ever had, but it was enough for me to say, sure, I have HPV. And I’m not shy about telling people that. But I wasn’t always this chill about it. When I was diagnosed, I basically lost it. I fell right down the slut-shaming hole. I told myself that was “what I get” for sleeping around, and cycled through the usual you can never have sex again/HPV doesn’t go away/your vagina is going to be covered in hideous warts/YOU’RE A TERRIBLE PERSON thoughts that so many of us go through when we get an STI diagnosis. Mid-freak out, I called a close friend. “Oh yeah, I have it, too,” she said. I got the same response from a female family member. And that’s when I calmed down and realized — HPV isn’t a big deal. Or, at least, the type of HPV I have isn’t a big deal. What I didn’t know at the time of diagnosis — but learned with a little Googling and had reinforced since, in my training as [...]

Charlotte Parker2018-09-11T10:41:04-07:00September, 2018|Oral Cancer News|

Italy Is Living Through What Happens When Politicians Embrace Anti-Vaxxers

Source: Huffingtonpost.com Author: Nick Robins-Early Italy’s Five Star movement, which was founded by a man who once called HIV a hoax, campaigned against mandatory vaccinations ahead of the country’s elections in March — and won. Last month, party leaders pushed through a law that ended compulsory immunizations for children attending public school. The new law has made Italy the darling of the global anti-vaxxer movement. But now the country is struggling to stop a measles outbreak that has already infected thousands of people, and Europe is recording its highest number of cases in a decade — an inevitable and foreseeable result of anti-vaccine policies and rhetoric, experts say. “Europe now is a good example of what happens when coverage of vaccinations is in decline,” said Vytenis Andriukaitis, the European Commissioner for Health and Food Safety. The efforts of Five Star and its far-right coalition partner, the League, have particularly complicated the global campaign to combat measles, an extremely contagious virus that often spreads among children and can result in severe complications, including pneumonia and encephalitis. The World Health Organization in 2012 set the goal for Europe to eliminate the disease by 2015. Instead, an estimated 41,000 people across the continent have been infected in the first six months of this year. Even a slight dip in a population’s vaccination rate can have disastrous effects: Countries need at least a 95 percent coverage rate to be measles-free. So when fewer people get vaccinated, kids get sick. “We’ve got this terrible self-inflicted [...]

Charlotte Parker2018-09-10T10:17:01-07:00September, 2018|Oral Cancer News|