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Botanical drug is shown to help patients with head and neck cancers

Source: newsroom.ucla.edu Author: Duane Bates, UCLA Research Brief Findings In a UCLA-led phase I clinical trial, a new plant-based drug called APG-157 showed signs of helping patients fight oral and oropharyngeal cancers. These cancers are located in the head and the neck. APG-157 is made up of multiple compounds produced by plants, including curcumin. UCLA Jonsson Comprehensive Cancer Center researchers found that treatment with this botanical drug resulted in high concentrations of curcumin and its byproducts circulating in the blood and absorbed by tumor tissues within three hours after being taken orally. APG-157 reduced the concentration of cytokines — proteins involved in inflammation — in the saliva when administered to cancer patients. The therapy also reduced the relative abundance of Bacteroides species, a group of gram-negative bacteria. Gram negative refers to a group of dangerous bacteria that have an outer layer which hides them from the immune system. The relative abundance of gram-negative bacteria compared to the presence of other types of bacteria is correlated with oral cancer. APG-157 also resulted in the expression of genes that are associated with attracting immune system T cells to the tumor area. This therapy could have a beneficial effect when used in combination with immunotherapy drugs that help immune system T cells recognize and kill tumors. The treatment did not have any adverse effects on the study’s participants. Background Cancers of the head and neck account for 4% of all cancers. About 650,000 new cases are reported each year around the world. People [...]

2020-02-06T08:55:08-07:00February, 2020|Oral Cancer News|
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Curcumin has anti-proliferative and pro-apoptotic effects on tongue cancer in vitro: a study with bioinformatics analysis and in vitro experiments

Source: www.dovepress.com Authors: Chao Ma,1 Zongming Zhuang,1 Qisheng Su,2 Jianfeng He,1 Haoyu Li1 Purpose: This study focused on the mechanism underlying the therapeutic effect of curcumin against tongue cancer (TC). Accepted for publication in Drug Design, Development and Therapy, Volume 14. Methods: Target genes of TC and curcumin were identified, respectively. Three datasets of TC from Gene Expression Omnibus were included, and then the differentially expressed genes were collected. After combing the data from The Cancer Genome Atlas, bioinformatics analyses were performed to investigate hub genes in terms of the functions and correlations. The proliferation and migration of TC cells were evaluated with CCK-8 assay and scratch wound healing assay, respectively. Cell apoptosis was evaluated by TUNEL assay, flow cytometry and Western blot. Cell cycle was determined by flow cytometry. Results: In this study, 15 hub genes were identified (TK1, TDRD3, TAGLN2, RNASEH2A, PDE2A, NCF2, MAP3K3, GPX3, GPD1L, GBP1, ENO1, CAT, ALDH6A1, AGPS and ACACB). They were mainly enriched in oxygen-related processes, such as oxidation-reduction process, reactive oxygen species metabolic process, hydrogen peroxide catabolic process, oxidoreductase activity and Peroxisome-related pathway. The expression levels of hub gene mRNAs were positively correlated with each other’s expression levels. None of the hub genes was correlated with prognosis (P > 0.05). Curcumin significantly inhibited CAL 27 cell proliferation and migration (P

2020-02-04T10:21:33-07:00February, 2020|Oral Cancer News|
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What parents need to know about the HPV vaccine

Source: www.news-medical.net Author: University of Chicago Medical Center, reviewed by Kate Anderton, B.Sc. (Editor) The vaccine that prevents infection from human papillomavirus (HPV) is nothing short of a medical marvel. "It's one of the most effective vaccines we have against any disease or infection. And it prevents cancer," said Andrea Loberg, MD, clinical associate of obstetrics and gynecology. Pre-teens and teens who are vaccinated against HPV can be spared some of the deadliest, most disfiguring and hard-to-treat cancers-;those of the cervix, vagina, vulva, penis, anus, mouth and throat. Over 90% of cancers caused by HPV can be prevented-;29,000 cases of cancer per year-;with the HPV vaccine. Concerns about sexual promiscuity To some parents, however, the HPV vaccine may be an uncomfortable reminder that their child will be moving into adulthood and may choose to express his or her sexuality. HPV is transmitted by oral, vaginal and anal sex and other intimate skin-to-skin contact, and it is extremely prevalent; about 80% of people will be exposed to the virus in their lifetime. Condoms reduce but don't eliminate the risk of HPV infections because the virus lives in both oral and genital tissues. Condoms do not cover the entire genital area of either gender. Nor are same-sex female partners protected from contracting the virus, which often causes no symptoms until precancerous lesions or cancer show up years later. "It's hard for parents to think about our kids becoming sexually active, but we also want them to have fulfilling lives," said Truehart, whose [...]

2020-01-29T07:28:39-07:00January, 2020|Oral Cancer News|
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Ask the Doctors: Dysphagia common in elderly

Source: journalstar.com Author: [email protected] Dear Doctor: Why do the elderly often have a hard time swallowing, and sometimes experience a feeling that food is stuck in their throats? I heard there's a procedure to stretch the throat. Does it help? Dear Reader: The condition you're asking about is known as dysphagia, which refers to difficulty in swallowing. Patients may have trouble starting a swallow, or problems with the esophagus, which is the muscular tube that connects the throat with the stomach. The origins of the disorder fall into several basic categories. There are neurological causes, such as stroke, Parkinson's disease, multiple sclerosis, dementia and head injury. Certain muscular conditions can affect the proper functioning of the esophagus. So does obstruction, which can result from a narrowing of the esophagus, or from inflammation. These can be caused by head and neck cancers, radiation therapy, tuberculosis and chronic acid reflux. Although dysphagia can affect people of all ages, you're correct that it's seen more often in older adults. This is commonly due to age-related changes in the body, such as loss of muscle tone, mass and strength, and changes to nerve function. Still, dysphagia is not considered to be a normal sign of aging. Understanding dysphagia starts with the mechanics of swallowing. We tend to think of it as the "gulp" that empties the mouth. But that's just the first step of a complex process. A successful swallow moves the contents of your mouth through the throat, and all the way down [...]

2020-01-20T19:32:29-07:00January, 2020|Oral Cancer News|
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Study explores correlation between Medicaid expansion and disease stage and time to treatment initiation in head and neck cancer

Source: www.docwirenews.com Author: Kaitlyn D’Onofrio A new study examined the relationship between Medicaid expansions as part of the Affordable Care Act (ACA) with stage at diagnosis and time to treatment initiation (TTI) for head and neck squamous cell carcinoma (HNSCC) patients. “Medicaid expansions as part of the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act (ACA) are associated with decreases in the percentage of uninsured patients who have received a new diagnosis of cancer. Little is known about the association of Medicaid expansions with stage at diagnosis and time to treatment initiation (TTI) for patients with head and neck squamous cell carcinoma (HNSCC),” the study authors explained. The study authors performed a retrospective cohort study at Commission on Cancer-accredited facilities. A total of 90,789 HNSCC patients aged between 18 and 64 years who received a cancer diagnosis between Jan. 1, 2010, and Dec. 31, 2016, were identified using the National Cancer Database. The primary outcomes were health insurance coverage, stage at diagnosis, and TTI. The researchers figured out the absolute percentage change in health insurance coverage, crude and adjusted difference in differences (DD) in absolute percentage change in coverage, stage at diagnosis and TTI before (2010-2013) and after (2014-2016) the ACA took effect for Medicaid expansion and nonexpansion states. Of the 90,789 HNSCC patients (mean [SD] age, 54.7 [7.0] years) included in the analysis, the majority (n = 70,907, 78.1%) were male, and most (n = 72,911, 80.3%) were non-Hispanic white. More than half (n = 52,142, 57.4%) were aged between 55 [...]

2020-01-20T19:26:50-07:00January, 2020|Oral Cancer News|
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Healthy diet may avert nutritional problems in head, neck cancer patients

Source: medicalxpress.com Author: University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign At least 90 percent of head and neck cancer patients develop symptoms that affect their ability or desire to eat, because of either the tumor itself or the surgery or radiation used to treat it. These problems, called nutrition impact symptoms, have wide-ranging negative effects on patients' physical and mental health and quality of life. However, patients who eat foods high in antioxidants and other micronutrients prior to diagnosis may reduce their risks of developing chronic nutrition impact symptoms up to one year after being diagnosed with head or neck cancer, according to a recent study led by researchers at the University of Illinois. The scientists analyzed the dietary patterns of 336 adults with newly diagnosed head and neck cancers and these patients' problems with eating, swallowing and inflammation of the digestive tract. This painful inflammatory condition, called mucositis, is a common side effect of radiation treatment and chemotherapy. The mitigating effects of a healthy diet were particularly significant in people who had never smoked and in patients who were underweight or normal weight at diagnosis, who often experience the greatest eating and digestive problems during treatment, said Sylvia L. Crowder, the paper's first author. Crowder is a research fellow in the Cancer Scholars for Translational and Applied Research program, a collaborative initiative of the U. of I. and Carle Foundation Hospital in Urbana, Illinois. "While previous work has established that the presence of nutrition impact symptoms is associated with decreased food [...]

2020-01-11T08:01:15-07:00January, 2020|Oral Cancer News|
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Alcohol use high among cancer survivors

Source: www.medwirenews.com Author: Shreeya Nanda Over half of cancer survivors report being current drinkers, including about a fifth who appear to engage in excessive drinking behaviors, finds a US study. “Given that alcohol intake has implications for cancer prevention and is a potentially modifiable risk factor for cancer-specific outcomes, the high prevalence of alcohol use among cancer survivors highlights the need for public health strategies aimed at the reduction of alcohol consumption,” write the study authors in JNCCN—Journal of the National Comprehensive Cancer Network. They used data from 34,080 participants of the US National Health Interview Survey interviewed between 2000 and 2017 who reported a history of cancer. In all, 56.5% of the total cohort reported being current drinkers, including 34.9% who exceeded moderate drinking limits – defined as a daily intake of more than one drink for women and more than two drinks for men – and 21.0% who engaged in binge drinking, which was defined as at least five drinks per day on at least one occasion in the past year. Researcher Nina Sanford (University of Texas Southwestern Medical Center, Dallas, USA) and colleagues caution that for the blood alcohol concentration to reach the threshold for binge drinking, drinks generally need to be consumed within 2 hours, but the survey did not collect information on the duration of alcohol intake and therefore participants who reported binge drinking may not have reached the biologic threshold. They also investigated factors linked to alcohol use, finding that younger age (18–34 years [...]

2020-01-11T07:36:55-07:00January, 2020|Oral Cancer News|
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Single dose of HPV vaccine may be as effective as three

Source: www.laboratoryequipment.com Author: Michelle Taylor, Editor-in-Chief More than a decade after the introduction of a vaccine that has been proven to stave off 90 percent of human papillomavirus-caused cancers, only half of U.S. adolescents have completed the 3-shot series. While part of that can be attributed to adolescents and adults who question the validity of the vaccine, the majority is due to unawareness of or forgetting the need for additional doses, lack of insurance and non-frequent contact with the medical system. But, a new study from researchers at the University of Texas Health Science Center at Houston, has revealed a single-dose regimen may be equally as effective as the current 2- to 3-dose system. “Ensuring boys and girls receive their first dose is a big challenge in several countries and a majority of adolescents are not able to complete the recommended series due to a lack of intensive infrastructure needed to administer two or three doses," said the paper’s senior author Ashish Deshmukh, assistant professor at UTHealth School of Public Health. "If ongoing clinical trials provide evidence regarding sustained benefits of a one-dose regimen, then implications of single-dose strategy could be substantial for reducing the burden of these cancers globally." Deshmukh’s study examined the difference in the prevalence of HPV infection in a total of 1620 women aged 18 to 26 of whom 1,004 were unvaccinated, 616 received at least 1 dose of HPV vaccine 106 received just 1 dose, 126 received 2 doses and 384 received 3 doses. Compared [...]

2020-01-02T08:41:29-07:00January, 2020|Oral Cancer News|
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Fewer side effects with proton beam vs traditional radiotherapy

Source: www.medscape.com Author: Roxanne Nelson, RN, BSN One of the main advantages claimed for proton beam radiotherapy is that it has fewer adverse effects than traditional radiotherapy. A new study suggests that that is so. The retrospective comparative effectiveness study involved 1483 patients with nonmetastatic cancer (various types, including brain, head and neck, lung, gastrointestinal, gynecologic) who were treated with curative intent. Slightly less than a third of these patients (n = 391) were treated with proton beam radiotherapy; the remaining patients (n = 1092) underwent traditional radiotherapy. The results show that among the patients who were treated with proton therapy, there was a significantly lower risk for serious side effects: 11.5% experienced events of grade 3 or higher within 90 days of treatment, compared to 27.6% of patients in the traditional radiotherapy group. "We know from our clinical experience that proton therapy can have this benefit, but even we did not expect the effect to be this sizeable," said senior author James Metz, MD, chair of radiation oncology, leader of the Roberts Proton Therapy Center at the University of Pennsylvania, and a member of Penn's Abramson Cancer Center. Importantly, there was no difference in cancer outcomes between the two groups; both disease-free and overall survival were similar. "It shows that proton therapy offers a way for us to reduce the serious side effects of chemoradiation and improve patient health and well-being without sacrificing the effectiveness of the therapy," said lead author Brian Baumann, MD. He is an adjunct assistant [...]

2020-01-02T08:30:31-07:00January, 2020|Oral Cancer News|
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Study: Healthy diet may avert nutritional problems in head, neck cancer patients

Source: news.illinois.edu Author: Sharita Forrest At least 90% of head and neck cancer patients develop symptoms that affect their ability or desire to eat, because of either the tumor itself or the surgery or radiation used to treat it. These problems, called nutrition impact symptoms, have wide-ranging negative effects on patients’ physical and mental health and quality of life. However, patients who eat foods high in antioxidants and other micronutrients prior to diagnosis may reduce their risks of developing chronic nutrition impact symptoms up to one year after being diagnosed with head or neck cancer, according to a recent study led by researchers at the University of Illinois. The scientists analyzed the dietary patterns of 336 adults with newly diagnosed head and neck cancers and these patients’ problems with eating, swallowing and inflammation of the digestive tract. This painful inflammatory condition, called mucositis, is a common side effect of radiation treatment and chemotherapy. The mitigating effects of a healthy diet were particularly significant in people who had never smoked and in patients who were underweight or normal weight at diagnosis, who often experience the greatest eating and digestive problems during treatment, said Sylvia L. Crowder, the paper’s first author. Crowder is a research fellow in the Cancer Scholars for Translational and Applied Research program, a collaborative initiative of the U. of I. and Carle Foundation Hospital in Urbana, Illinois. “While previous work has established that the presence of nutrition impact symptoms is associated with decreased food intake and weight loss, [...]

2019-12-17T09:16:56-07:00December, 2019|Oral Cancer News|
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