June 2020 – Oral Cancer News

E-cigarettes found to cause change in mouth bacteria – which could lead to gum disease or oral cancer

Source: theconversation.com Author: Beth Daley E-cigarettes are a popular alternative to smoking, but we still know very little about the effects of them on our health. While numerous studies have explored the effect of e-cigarettes on our lungs, heart, and overall health, one important and often overlooked consideration is what effect they have on our microbiome. But a recent study has found e-cigarettes change the bacteria in our mouths. These bacterial changes can lead to disease, if left unchecked. Our microbiome is the living community of bacteria, fungi, and viruses that keep us healthy. We often hear a lot about our gut microbiome, but our oral microbiome is probably just as important to our overall health. It’s the second and most diverse microbiota next to the gut, home to over 1,000 species of microbes. It’s the gateway to the rest of our digestive system and plays a key role in helping us break down foods. Our oral microbiome also wards off potentially harmful microbes by preventing them from reproducing. A healthy oral microbiome reduces the chances of developing infections or disease. A recent study in Science Advances(1) investigating the effect of e-cigarettes on our oral microbiome found that e-cigarettes have a negative impact on the diversity of the bacteria present. They also cause an immune response from cells, which can lead to long-term damage to the surrounding cells. Our oral microbes are not only the first to experience e-cigarette vapour, they’re also exposed to higher concentrations of the chemicals. This [...]

Oral Cancer Foundation News Team - A2020-06-25T08:26:17-07:00June, 2020|Oral Cancer News|

Scientists to develop pain-free device to detect oral cancer

Source: www.expresshealthcare.in Author: EH News Bureau staff £1 million in funding has been awarded to the partnership to develop a functional prototype of a new device that uses Electrical Impedance Spectroscopy (EIS) technology for the early detection of cancerous lesions In partnership with Zilico, the University of Sheffield is working to develop a pain-free, non-invasive and instantaneous method to detect oral cancer, A research collaboration has been awarded £1million in funding from SBRI Healthcare – an NHS England initiative – to test and develop a pain-free, non-invasive and instantaneous method to detect oral cancer. Once built and tested, the new device could enable doctors to detect oral cancer earlier and more accurately, reducing the need for patients to have invasive biopsies. This, in turn, could provide better outcomes for patients and significant cost savings for the NHS. The pioneering device is to be developed with medical device diagnostics company Zilico, born out of a partnership between the University of Sheffield and Sheffield Teaching Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust – using the same patented technology as its ZedScan device, which is now in use in the NHS for the early and non-invasive diagnosis of cervical cancer. Researchers from the University of Sheffield and Sheffield Teaching Hospitals previously demonstrated that the principle of its electrical impedance spectroscopy (EIS) technology, where normal, precancerous and cancerous tissue can be differentiated according to its electrical properties could be useful for detecting oral cancer. The ‘proof of concept’ study involved 47 patients who were recruited from the [...]

Oral Cancer Foundation News Team - A2020-06-17T08:18:21-07:00June, 2020|Oral Cancer News|

Aspirin against migraines and cancer

Source: www.swoknews.com Author: staff Aspirin never ceases to amaze us. For a medicine that has been around for over 120 years and remains one of the most inexpensive drugs in the pharmacy, we are surprised that there continue to be discoveries. The latest review of aspirin has to do with its use in the prevention of migraine headaches (American Journal of Medicine, April 2020). One of the authors is Dr. Charles Hennekens. He is considered one of the world’s top scientists by his colleagues. He has contributed to three textbooks and over 750 medical publications. Dr. Hennekens and his co-authors reviewed the aspirin data over the past several decades. They concluded: “The totality of evidence, which includes data from randomized trials, suggests that high-dose aspirin, in doses from 900 to 1,300 mg, given at the onset of symptoms, is an effective and safe treatment option for acute migraine headaches. In addition, the totality of evidence, including, some but not all, randomized trials, suggests the possibility that daily aspirin in doses from 81 to 325 mg, may be an effective and safe treatment option for the prevention of recurrent migraine headaches. “The relatively favorable side effect profile of aspirin and extremely low cost compared with other prescription drug therapies may provide additional clinical options for primary healthcare providers in the treatment of both acute and recurrent migraine headaches.” Of course, no one should take high doses of aspirin without medical supervision. The same holds true for long-term use. Aspirin can cause [...]

Oral Cancer Foundation News Team - A2020-06-15T12:16:28-07:00June, 2020|Oral Cancer News|

FDA approves Gardasil 9, the HPV vaccine, to prevent head-and-neck cancer

For the past decade, evidence has suggested that Gardasil, the HPV vaccine, could stem an epidemic of throat cancer. But it has also never received approval from the Food and Drug Administration for that use — and it was unclear if it ever would. On Friday, the agency granted that approval, clearing the latest version of the vaccine, Gardasil 9, to prevent a cancer that affects 13,500 Americans annually. The decision was announced by Gardasil’s maker, Merck. The decision doesn’t change recommendations about who should get the vaccine, which is already recommended for females and males ages 9 through 45 to prevent cervical, vulvar, vaginal, and anal cancer as well as genital warts. But cancers of the head and neck — mainly those of the tonsils and throat — have been left off the list. It’s a striking omission, because head and neck cancer, mostly cancer of the throat, is the most common malignancy caused by HPV, the human papilloma virus, in the U.S. According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, there are 35,000 cases of HPV-related cancer in the U.S. annually. On top of the 13,500 cases in the throat, 10,900 are cases of cervical cancer. “That’s excellent news,” said Stewart Lyman, a pharmaceutical consultant whose doctors discovered a tumor in his throat in 2016. It was removed surgically, and was caused by HPV. “To have this extended to head and neck cancer is really very helpful for helping to inform the public that this serious disease, which [...]

Charlotte Parker2020-06-15T09:41:02-07:00June, 2020|Oral Cancer News|

FDA approves Gardasil 9, the HPV vaccine, to prevent head-and-neck cancer

Source: www.statnews.com Author: Matthew Herper For the past decade, evidence has suggested that Gardasil, the HPV vaccine, could stem an epidemic of throat cancer. But it has also never received approval from the Food and Drug Administration for that use — and it was unclear if it ever would. Charles Rex Arbogast/AP On Friday, the agency granted that approval, clearing the latest version of the vaccine, Gardasil 9, to prevent a cancer that affects 13,500 Americans annually. The decision was announced by Gardasil’s maker, Merck. The decision doesn’t change recommendations about who should get the vaccine, which is already recommended for females and males ages 9 through 45 to prevent cervical, vulvar, vaginal, and anal cancer as well as genital warts. But cancers of the head and neck — mainly those of the tonsils and throat — have been left off the list. It’s a striking omission, because head and neck cancer, mostly cancer of the throat, is the most common malignancy caused by HPV, the human papilloma virus, in the U.S. According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, there are 35,000 cases of HPV-related cancer in the U.S. annually. On top of the 13,500 cases in the throat, 10,900 are cases of cervical cancer. “That’s excellent news,” said Stewart Lyman, a pharmaceutical consultant whose doctors discovered a tumor in his throat in 2016. It was removed surgically, and was caused by HPV. “To have this extended to head and neck cancer is really very helpful [...]

Oral Cancer Foundation News Team - A2020-06-13T05:42:56-07:00June, 2020|Oral Cancer News|

Fighting throat cancer with T cells

Source: www.miragenews.com Author: press release, Centenary Institute Research led by the Centenary Institute has discovered that immune cells accumulating within the tumor environment, called tumor-resident T cells, are a critical determinant in survival rates of patients suffering from throat cancer. Reported in the prestigious ‘Journal for ImmunoTherapy of Cancer’, the research suggests that strategies aiming to boost these T-cells at tumor sites could be beneficial to patients. “Oropharyngeal squamous cell carcinoma (OPSCC) is a form of throat cancer. It can be caused by environmental factors such as smoking or by human papillomavirus infection (HPV), the same virus that causes cervical cancer in women,” said Ms Rehana Hewavisenti, lead author of the study and researcher at the Centenary Institute and the University of Sydney. “We knew that patients with HPV-related OPSCC had far better clinical outcomes compared to other OPSCC patients but we didn’t know why,” she said. In examining over sixty patient samples, Ms Hewavisenti and her colleagues discovered that increased levels of tumor-resident T cells, whether in HPV or non-HPV OPSCC cases, was clearly associated with improved patient survival outcomes. “It was the accumulation of these immune T-cells, in and around the tumour site that appeared to be key,” said Ms Hewavisenti. The researchers also found in their study that HPV OPSCC patients generally had far higher levels of tumour-resident T cells compared to their non-HPV OPSCC patient counterparts. “We think these HPV positive patients tended to have better clinical outcomes as HPV infection is likely to favor the [...]

Oral Cancer Foundation News Team - A2020-06-12T12:47:47-07:00June, 2020|Oral Cancer News|

These 4 diet and lifestyle changes can lower your cancer risk by almost 20%

Source: www.marketwatch.com Author: Nicole Lyn Pesce Bad news, booze and beef lovers. The American Cancer Society has updated its diet and physical activity recommendations to help prevent cancer — and the new guidelines released on Tuesday discourage consuming red meat, processed food, sugar-sweetened drinks — and all alcohol. The combination of these risk factors (as well as being physically inactive) accounted for at least 18.2% of cancer cases and 15.8% of cancer deaths in the U.S. in 2014, the American Cancer Society reported — making this unhealthy combo the biggest cancer risk factor after cigarette smoking in both men and women. While the American Cancer Society has advised limiting the consumption of alcoholic drinks to no more to than one per day for women, and two for men since 2012, the new recommendations draw a harder line. “It is best not to drink alcohol,” it says. Period. For people who still choose to imbibe, the revised guidance reiterates sticking to just one drink a day for women and two for men. And it should be noted that a standard single “drink” is defined as 12 ounces of regular beer, five ounces of wine, and a 1.5-ounce shot of distilled spirits or liquor, which may be smaller than what you actually pour yourself. For example, the University of Cambridge has noted that the average wine glass today holds 15 ounces — or three servings’ worth. “That recommendation is the synthesis of the evidence and science that finds any amount of alcohol [...]

Oral Cancer Foundation News Team - A2020-06-10T05:49:54-07:00June, 2020|Oral Cancer News|

Dental record data analytics to improve oral health outcomes

Source: healthitanalytics.com Author: Jessica Kent A team from Regenstrief Institute and the Indiana University School of Medicine is applying data analytics techniques to previously inaccessible dental record information with the goal of improving oral health outcomes. Researchers assessed de-identified data from electronic dental records (EDRs) of 217,887 patients of 99 solo or small dental practices across the US. These EDRs included more than 11 million observations, with observation periods as long as 37 years. Information on demographics, reason for visit, medical and dental history, social history, tooth characteristics and treatment, and practice and practitioner characteristics was collected for each patient visit. Dentists could share their data for research in an anonymized process with the help of their EDR vendor. Data from two EDR systems with different formats and operating systems were combined, where interoperability has previously proved difficult with medical data. Additionally, the study looked at the oral health and treatment options of both insured and uninsured patients, in contrast to previous studies which have relied on insurance records and haven’t provided any information on uninsured patients. The group found that it was possible to mine and utilize massive amounts of dental record data to determine which dental therapies work and which don’t, which could lead to quality improvement from individual dentists. The study showed that EDR data is reliable for purposes beyond clinical patient care. Dental practitioners can learn from aggregated data across practices and compare their practice with their peers, researchers said. Information collected at each patient’s visit [...]

Oral Cancer Foundation News Team - A2020-06-09T10:26:53-07:00June, 2020|Oral Cancer News|

Experts release new guidelines for studies into most effective treatments for HPV-positive throat cancer

Source: en.brinkwire.com Author: provided by University of Birmingham, United Kingdom Heightened caution is needed when considering de-escalation trials for patients with Human papillomavirus (HPV)-positive oropharyngeal cancer (OPC), to ensure minimal harm to patients, new guidelines from a group of international head and neck cancer experts have suggested. HPV-positive oropharyngeal cancer is a cancer of the throat caused by the human papillomavirus—a common, but symptomless group of sexually transmitted viruses. Instances of many throat and neck cancers have declined as smoking rates have fallen, whereas HPV-positive OPC has increased, largely affecting younger patients. The standard course of treatment for this disease is a combination of cisplatin (a common chemotherapy drug) and radiotherapy. The younger age of the patient population, significantly improved prognosis, and relatively minimal morbidities caused by the standard treatment pathway have led to the popularisation of the concept of treatment de-escalation as a way to improve the quality of life of patients by reducing dosage or frequency of treatment. These new recommendations, published today in the Journal of Clinical Oncology have been created by the Head and Neck Cancer International Group, a group of experts from nineteen countries, led by the University of Birmingham, UK. The guidelines have been prompted by the recent results of the first three randomised de-escalation trials which suggested a clear detriment in survival when cisplatin is omitted or substituted to minimise side effects. After a review of available HPV-positive OPC literature, the guidelines recommend an overall need for caution when considering de-escalation options, even [...]

Oral Cancer Foundation News Team - A2020-06-09T10:19:12-07:00June, 2020|Oral Cancer News|

Gambling today: time to ban smoking in casinos

Source: www.si.com Author: Frankie Taddeo Casinos are working feverishly towards making guests feel they are not at risk when they travel back to properties with newly implemented safety measures. Among all these new features, there is one important change blatantly missing: prohibiting smoking. Smoking could easily spread the COVID-19 virus, not only because of the need to remove your mask but because of an individual's pattern of fingers to mouth while in constant contact with each game they decide to participate in. Many doctors and experts have gone on record expressing that smoking or exposure to secondhand smoke can lead to coughing which in turn can aid in the spread of the infection. Unfortunately, casino operators don’t appear to have all the health interests of both their guests and employees at the heart of their newly implemented changes. Should that change, now is the time to play the hand being dealt and push all the collective chips into the middle. Patrons either turning on the news or coming across signs in local establishments are told to avoid touching surfaces others have touched, and then touching your face, mouth, or eyes. In casinos, gamblers continuously touch cards, chips, dice, slot machine buttons, and above all, money. Even those of us who are not medical experts can rationalize that the act of smoking could likely lead to a higher risk of transmission during uncertain times Also, what about the risks to non-smokers resulting from secondhand smoke? Part of the outline in the [...]

Oral Cancer Foundation News Team - A2020-06-09T10:14:43-07:00June, 2020|Oral Cancer News|