9/12/2004 QUEEN'S PARK, Canada by ROB FERGUSON TORONTO STAR Nurse Lydia Biel, 55, used her inside knowledge to get an MRI when she was diagnosed with cancer in 1999, telling hospital officials she was “available for a cancellation anytime, anywhere.” When a dental oncologist confirmed she had tongue cancer, Lydia Biel went from a sense of denial — "I just thought she was a dentist" — to sensing a clock ticking. That's when the Toronto nurse began using her inside knowledge of the health system and working the phones, making sure she got an MRI quickly to map the malignant growth and get into surgery. She did not want to get stuck on a waiting list, after hearing news stories in the past about patients biding their time for weeks or months, or seeking treatment outside Canada for fear that waiting in line here could allow the cancer to grow too strong. Tomorrow, the premiers will meet in Ottawa with Prime Minister Paul Martin for a summit on health care; among the topics of discussion will be Martin's goal of cutting wait times for medical procedures. There is no firm data on how long patients wait for diagnosis and treatment of cancer in Ontario, although wait times for radiation treatment of tumours range from one to 12 weeks, depending on the type of cancer and where you live. Four weeks is generally considered the longest anyone should wait. "I massaged the system," recalls Biel in the 16th-floor waterfront condo she [...]

9/9/2004 Louisvill, KY By Linda Stahl The Courier-Journal Visiting expert says most cases can be avoided with diet and lifestyle changes Dr. Bernard Levin, one of the nation's foremost authorities on cancer prevention, will give a free public speech at the Hyatt Regency in Louisville tonight as part of a Norton Hospitals Foundation lecture series. Levin won the American Cancer Society's 2004 award for a career devoted to the early detection and prevention of cancer. At the University of Texas M.D. Anderson Cancer Center, Levin has developed a broad research program that combines the study of behavior, genetics, chemotherapy and population groups to learn how to prevent cancer. He maintains that two-thirds of all cancers can be prevented through diet and lifestyle changes. In advance of his visit, we spoke with him in a telephone interview from his office in Houston. Here are excerpts from the conversation: What are the top six ways a person can reduce his risk and his family's risk of getting cancer? The first is related to tobacco. Stop or never start tobacco. Know your family history, because that could be very important in determining your own risk. The next is maintain a healthy weight. Keep physically active. The next is avoid unnecessary exposure to the sun. Age- and gender-appropriate screening. Q: What does the American public need to learn to help the United States reach its potential for cancer prevention? What seems to be our greatest area of ignorance? A: Health literacy. I mean by [...]

9/2/2004 by Sarah L. Zielinski Journal of the National Cancer Institute A new study reports that head and neck squamous cell carcinomas (HNSCCs) that harbor transcriptionally active human papillomaviruses (HPV) have a different pattern of genetic changes than tumors without HPV. These patterns suggest that infection with HPV may play a role in the development of HNSCC, according to the study, which appears in the July 7 issue of the Journal of the National Cancer Institute. HPV is known to cause most cases of cervical cancer. Some studies have suggested that the virus may also play a role in the development of HNSCCs, and HPV DNA has been detected in the tumors of 10% to 20% of HNSCC patients. In addition, active HPV DNA can be found in the tumors of HNSCC patients who do not drink or smoke-factors that have been associated with an increased risk of HNSCC. It is believed that HPV infection is an independent risk factor, but an interaction with exposure to tobacco smoke can not be excluded. The mechanism by which HPV might cause HNSCC is not known. To find a possible mechanism of HPV carcinogenesis, Boudewijn J. M. Braakhuis, Ph.D., of the VU University Medical Center in Amsterdam, Netherlands, and colleagues looked at HPV DNA and RNA and genetic alterations in the tumors of 143 patients with HNSCC. HNSCCs that had transcriptionally active HPV DNA (i.e., specific viral genes were expressed in the tumor cells) had a distinct genetic pattern in which there was [...]

9/2/2004 Lilli B. Link and John D. Potter Cancer Epidemiology Biomarkers & Prevention (see below) This review of the medical literature from 1994 to 2003 summarizes the relationship between raw and cooked vegetables and cancer risk and examines whether they may affect cancer risk differently. Twenty-eight studies examined the relationship between raw and cooked vegetables and risk for various cancers. Twenty-one studies assessed raw, but not cooked, vegetables and cancer risk. The majority of these assessed risk of oral, pharyngeal, laryngeal, esophageal, lung, gastric, and colorectal cancers. Most showed that vegetables, raw or cooked, were inversely related to these cancers. However, more consistent results were found for oral, pharyngeal, laryngeal, esophageal, and gastric cancers. Nine of the 11 studies of raw and cooked vegetables showed statistically significant inverse relationships of these cancers with raw vegetables, but only 4 with cooked vegetables. The few studies of breast, lung, and colorectal cancers also suggested an inverse relationship with both raw and cooked vegetables, but these results were less consistent. In the two studies of prostate cancer, there was no association with either raw or cooked vegetables. One of two bladder cancer studies found an inverse relationship with cooked, but not raw, vegetables. Possible mechanisms by which cooking affects the relationship between vegetables and cancer risk include changes in availability of some nutrients, destruction of digestive enzymes, and alteration of the structure and digestibility of food. Both raw and cooked vegetable consumption are inversely related to epithelial cancers, particularly those of the upper [...]

9/1/2004 By Sarah L. Zielinski Journal of the National Cancer Institute A new study reports that head and neck squamous cell carcinomas (HNSCCs) that harbor transcriptionally active human papillomaviruses (HPV) have a different pattern of genetic changes than tumors without HPV. These patterns suggest that infection with HPV may play a role in the development of HNSCC, according to the study, which appears in the July 7 issue of the Journal of the National Cancer Institute. HPV is known to cause most cases of cervical cancer. Some studies have suggested that the virus may also play a role in the development of HNSCCs, and HPV DNA has been detected in the tumors of 10% to 20% of HNSCC patients. In addition, active HPV DNA can be found in the tumors of HNSCC patients who do not drink or smoke-factors that have been associated with an increased risk of HNSCC. It is believed that HPV infection is an independent risk factor, but an interaction with exposure to tobacco smoke can not be excluded. The mechanism by which HPV might cause HNSCC is not known. To find a possible mechanism of HPV carcinogenesis, Boudewijn J. M. Braakhuis, Ph.D., of the VU University Medical Center in Amsterdam, Netherlands, and colleagues looked at HPV DNA and RNA and genetic alterations in the tumors of 143 patients with HNSCC. HNSCCs that had transcriptionally active HPV DNA (i.e., specific viral genes were expressed in the tumor cells) had a distinct genetic pattern in which there was [...]

9/1/2004 Medical College of Georgia By Christine Hurley Deriso Medical News Today The health benefits of green tea are finding their way into gum, mints, skin cream and other products with the help of a Medical College of Georgia cell biologist. Dr. Stephen Hsu, a researcher in the MCG Schools of Dentistry and Graduate Studies whose work has revolutionized the understanding of green tea's healing and preventive properties, recently began an arrangement with New Jersey-based CCA Industries, Inc. to make those properties readily available in everyday products. The first of these products, Mega-T Green Tea Chewing Gum, is on store shelves now. Each piece of the mint-flavored, sugar-free gum equals two cups of green tea. CCA Industries, Inc. is a public company listed in the American Stock Exchange under the stock symbol, CAW. Dr. Hsu has been intrigued by the properties of green tea since observing that populations that drink green tea regularly have much lower cancer rates than populations that don't. His research helped determine that green tea polyphenols help eliminate free radicals, which can damage DNA and lead to cancer. He further found that green tea-induced p57--a protein that helps regulate cell growth and differentiation--changes the behavior of healthy cells as polyphenols target cancer cells for destruction. This change of behavior protects the healthy cells. Dr. Hsu discovered that the polyphenols activate two separate pathways, one for normal cells and one for cancer cells. The polyphenols serve as a sentinel, separating cells with p57 from cancer cells, which [...]

9/1/2004 By SANDRA DICK The Scotsman News IMAGINE for a moment that there is a food that is juicy, soft and scrumptious, sweet and oozing flavour, that can keep you looking young, healthy and free of all manner of unpleasant ailments. Just say it comes in a convenient little package, easy to eat on the go, relatively cheap and readily available. There would be no likelihood of becoming bored eating it - this wonder product would come in a variety of different shapes, sizes and tastes. And, just for good measure, there’s a royal seal of approval chucked in. Now wouldn’t that be a mouth-watering prospect? In fact, nutritionists and medical scientists have already pinpointed just such a wonder product, and there’s a very good chance some is already lurking either in your fruit bowl, fridge or even growing at the bottom of your own garden. Berries - from the luscious red strawberries associated with tennis, lashings of cream and sunny summer days, to the tangy raspberries which herald the early days of autumn and even the all-American blueberries in your coffee shop muffin - are rapidly becoming the wonder food of the moment. Whether it’s a cure for hay fever, something to put some zap into your sagging love life, protection against heart disease and cancer or even a magic solution to keep you looking young, it seems berries are . . . simply the berries. According to leading nutritionist Patrick Holford, of the Institute for Optimum Nutrition in [...]

9/1/2004 Fadlo R. Khuri, Reuben Lotan Journal of Clinical Oncology (see below) An Initial Era of Optimism The study of retinoids in lung and upper aerodigestive tract cancer dates back to seminal observations by Wohlbach and Howe,1 who discovered that vitamin A deprivation of cattle led to an increased incidence of lung and upper aerodigestive tract cancers. Subsequent studies have demonstrated enhanced lung carcinogenesis in vitamin A-deficient animals exposed to the tobacco carcinogen benzo[a]pyrene, possibly due to enhanced binding of the carcinogen to tracheal epithelial DNA.2,3 These findings have paved the way to vitamin A intervention in experimental lung carcinogenesis.4,5 The extension of these studies to human lung carcinogenesis and prevention was supported by epidemiologic studies, which suggested that significant dietary intake of vitamin A and carotenoids plays an important role in decreased cancer incidence.6 Pharmacologically, it would be several decades before Hong et al7 and others would show that high-doses of a synthetic retinoid (13-cis-retinoic acid or isotretinoin) could reverse oral premalignant lesions. Further trials by Hong et al8 and Pastorino et al9 showed that high-doses of synthetic or natural vitamin A could reduce the incidence of second primary head and neck and lung tumors in patients with a prior history of tobacco-related cancer. While the high-doses, in particular of the synthetic vitamin A derivatives, were too toxic to administer to a broad patient population, this optimism led to further development of retinoids in tobacco-related cancers, as well as the biologic implications of loss or gain of function of [...]

9/1/2004 Chapel Hill, NC By: LL Patton, R Agans, JR Elter, JH Southerland, RP Strauss, and WD Kalsbeek Journal of Public Health & Dentistry, June 1, 2004; 64(3): 173-80. OBJECTIVE: This study assesses knowledge of oral cancer risk factors, clinical signs, and oral cancer examination experience among North Carolina adults. METHODS: A statewide random digit dial, computer-assisted telephone interview was conducted in 2002. Data from 1,096 respondents, with a response rate of 62 percent, were poststratified to 2000 census data by sex, race, and age group to produce population-based estimates. Knowledge of one sign of oral cancer, four or more risk factors for oral cancer, and having ever had an oral cancer examination were compared in logistic regression models using normalized weights. RESULTS: Fourteen (95% confidence interval [CI] +/-2) percent of adults had never heard of oral or mouth cancer. Risk factor knowledge was high for 56 percent (95% CI+/-3) and associated in a logistic regression model with younger age, feeling personal factors cause cancer, and nonuse of snuff. One sign of oral cancer (sore/lesion, red or white patch in mouth, and bleeding in the mouth) was correctly identified by 53 percent (95% CI+/-3) with significantly more correct responses from younger people, nonsmokers, and some college education. Only 29 percent (95% CI+/-3) reported ever having had an oral cancer examination when this procedure was described. Most respondents reported exams performed by dentists. In a weighted logistic regression model, older age, being dentate, nonsmokers, alcohol users, and those with some college [...]

9/1/2004 Berlin, Germany A.A. Dünnea, V.G. Budachb, W. Wagnerc, J.A. Wernera Onkologie 2004;27:363-367 (DOI: 10.1159/000079089) Squamous cell carcinomas of the upper aerodigestive tract are characterized by a high frequency of lymphogenic metastatic spread. The neck should be included in the treatment concept because almost 25% of all patients develop occult lymph node metastases. The only exception are early carcinomas of the lower lip and the vocal cords. Since currently for high risk patients no prognostic markers or other factors for occult metastatic spread are available, treatment strategies have to include the exact knowledge of direction and extent of regional lymphatic drainage. Based on this prerequisite, concepts for selective cervical lymph node dissection in case of the clinical N0 situation were developed which may also be used for an individually optimized radiotherapy. Intensity modulated radiotherapy (IMRT) bears a high potential for an optimized irradiation in case of potential occult metastatic spread of carcinomas of the upper aerodigestive tract. Without compromising local control rates, IMRT allows a considerable reduction of permanent xerostomia by sparing at least one major salivary gland. The significant scientific purpose for the N0 neck, however, will remain the identification of high-risk patients, e.g. by means of tissue and/or serum-related markers, which carry a high risk of local and distant metastases. Authors affiliations: Department of Otorhinolaryngology, Head Neck Surgery, Philipps University, Marburg; Department of Radiation Oncology, Charite CCM Humboldt University, Berlin; Department of Maxillofacial Surgery, Johannes Gutenberg University of Mainz, Germany