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HPV-positive African-Americans with throat cancer have better outcomes

Source: www.drbicuspid.com Author: DrBicuspid Staff African-Americans with throat cancer who are positive for the human papillomavirus (HPV) have better outcomes than African-Americans without HPV, according to a new study in Clinical Cancer Research (March 26, 2013). African-Americans who are HPV-negative also fared worse than Caucasians both with and without HPV present in oropharyngeal cancer, concluded lead author Maria Worsham, PhD, from Henry Ford Health System in Detroit, and colleagues. "This study adds to the mounting evidence of HPV as a racially-linked sexual behavior lifestyle risk factor impacting survival outcomes for both African-American and Caucasian patients with oropharyngeal cancer," Worsham said in a statement about the study. To compare survival outcomes in HPV-positive and HPV-negative African-Americans with oropharyngeal cancer, the researchers retrospectively evaluated 118 patients. Among the study group, 67 were HPV-negative and 51 were HPV-positive, and 42% of the patients were African-American. The study results indicate the following, according to the researchers: African-Americans are less likely to be HPV-positive. Those older than 50 are less likely to be HPV-positive. Those with late-stage oropharyngeal cancer are more likely to be unmarried and more likely to be HPV-positive. HPV-negative patients had 2.7 times the risk of death compared to HPV-positive patients. The HPV race groups differed, with significantly poorer survival for HPV-negative African-Americans versus HPV-positive African-Americans, HPV-positive Caucasians, and HPV-negative Caucasians. Overall, the study showed that HPV has a substantial affect on overall survival in African-Americans with oropharyngeal cancer, Worsham and colleagues concluded.

2013-04-01T08:35:41-07:00April, 2013|Oral Cancer News|
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Understanding the connection between “dry mouth” and cavities

Source: www.hivehealthmedia.com Author: Rob Gazzola Do you have an unusually dry mouth? Do you suffer from bad breath, cracked lips, split skin at your mouth’s corners or a frequent sore throat? If your answer is “yes,” your symptoms may be caused by xerostomia, a condition caused by a lack of saliva. More commonly known simply as “dry mouth,” xerostomia can also cause difficulties swallowing and speaking and an altered sense of taste. Even worse, the condition can lead to an increase of tooth decay and plaque. Saliva plays an important role in maintaining the health of your teeth and gums. It protects your teeth’s enamel by neutralizing potentially harmful acids, and it rinses food debris away from both the teeth and the gums. Without it, food particles, plaque and acid build up in your mouth, leading to tooth decay. Luckily, there are many ways to improve dry mouth symptoms: To stimulate the production of saliva, suck on hard candies or chew gum. Just make sure the varieties you choose are sugar-free. Caffeine can dry out your mouth even more, so limit your intake of tea, coffee, soda and other caffeinated products. Avoid foods and candies with high levels of acid or sugar. These foods can raise your risk of developing tooth decay. When eating fruit, try to avoid dried fruit as generally they are high in sugar and often leave particles that cling to your teeth, while fresh fruit, though also having sugar content, is less likely to cause issues [...]

2013-04-01T08:31:44-07:00April, 2013|Oral Cancer News|
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Taking aspirin once a month reduces cancer risk

Source: www.ghanaweb.com Author: staff Popping an aspirin just once a month could cut people's chances of developing cancer by almost a quarter, new research suggests. According to scientists at Queen's University in Belfast, a weekly or even monthly dose of the over-the-counter painkiller could help people avoid developing tumours. Their investigation indicated that a regular dose of aspirin could reduce people's risk of getting head and neck cancer by 22 per cent. A regular dose of aspirin in middle age is already recognised as helping to reduce people's risk of heart attacks and strokes. Academics at the Belfast university carried out an investigation into the impact of aspirin and ibuprofen on head and neck cancer risk, a report in the Daily Express said. It was most effective in throat cancer prevention, their study showed. The results of their research were published in the British Journal of Cancer. They concluded that aspirin 'may have potential as a chemopreventive agent', noting that 'further investigation is warranted'. Head and neck cancers affect more than 16,000 people in the UK annually. Dr Nigel Carter, chief executive of the British Dental Health Foundation, said the research was 'encouraging' 'Regular aspirin use has been linked to preventing a number of cancers, and if it is a particularly successful practice for warding off mouth cancer, it should act as a springboard for more research,' he said.

2013-04-01T08:25:49-07:00April, 2013|Oral Cancer News|
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Smoking on waking increase cancer risk

Source: timesofindia.indiatimes.com Author: Malathy Iyer It is well known that smoking is injurious to health, but what is now emerging is that smokers who light up first thing in the morning are more likely than other smokers to suffer from lung or oral cancer. The research could serve as an eye-opener for India, where tobacco-related cancers claim over 1 million lives every year. The correlation between the time of the first smoke and cancer comes from a carcinogen found in cigarettes. A new study from Penn University in the US has shown that smokers who consume cigarettes immediately after waking up have higher levels of a carcinogen called NNAL (a derivative of NNK (4-(methylnitrosamino)-1-[3-pyridyl]-1-butanone) throughout the day in comparison to others. Steven Branstetter, assistant professor at Penn University, said that other researches had shown that NNK induces lung tumors in several rodent species. His team hence believes that levels of NNAL in the blood can predict lung cancer risk in rodents as well as in humans. The team examined data on 1,945 smoking adults and found that around 32 % smoked their first cigarette of the day within 5 minutes of waking; 31 % smoked within 6 to 30 minutes of waking; 18 % smoked within 31 to 60 minutes of waking; and 19 percent smoked more than one hour after waking. "Most importantly, we found that NNAL level was highest among people who smoked the soonest upon waking, regardless of the frequency of smoking and other factors that predict [...]

2013-04-01T08:22:35-07:00April, 2013|Oral Cancer News|
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Professor studies plants, foods to prevent cancer

Source: www.mysanantonio.com Author: Jennifer R. Lloyd, Staff Writer Twigs, leaves and berries may sound like the diet of the destitute, but for molecular medicine professor Michael Wargovich, certain plants, like those in traditional medicines and food in developing countries could be gold mines in the fight against cancer. In his newly outfitted lab at the University of Texas Health Science Center at San Antonio, Wargovich and his staff are testing the cancer-preventing properties of green tea. They'll also soon start investigating the anti-inflammatory abilities of the neem tree, native to India, and which already is used in some toothpastes available in the United States. Wargovich, 60, cited World Health Organization statistics showing that the hot spots for cancer will move south of the equator by 2020 as the population swells and its residents, immunized from many infectious diseases, live longer and assume a more Western lifestyle. “They're giving up their traditional diets,” he said. “The things that we've found are protecting us against cancer are disappearing as everybody tries to be homogenized and Western and going to fast-food places.” He said undetectable chronic inflammation sets people up for illnesses such as heart disease, cancer, obesity and diabetes. Yet foods with anti-inflammatory properties — fruits, vegetables, spices and herbs — are disappearing from the world's plate. As a side project, Wargovich and an executive chef are developing an anti-inflammatory diet to reintegrate beneficial foods into modern-day dining. In April, Wargovich will give a free public lecture about cancer-fighting foods. Visit the [...]

2013-03-23T10:45:03-07:00March, 2013|Oral Cancer News|
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‘Immortal’ gene mutation may allow some cancerous cells to live forever

Source: www.counselheal.com Author: Makini Brice For years, it has remained a mystery how cancer cells are able to live forever, while typical cells die. Recent research performed by scientists at the Duke Cancer Institute have found that a single gene may be responsible for three of the most common types of brain tumors, in addition to liver cancer, tongue cancer and cancer of the urinary tract. In addition, the study involved research into the inner workings of 1,200 tumors and 60 different types of cancer. Researchers hope that, with this finding, doctors will soon be able to beat cancer at its own game. The secret is in the telomere, which sticks to the end of the chromosome and prevents the ends from fraying or sticking together. When cells divide normally, the telomeres become shorter and shorter. When the telomere reaches a certain length, the cell can no longer divide and it dies. This process requires the use of an enzyme called telomerase. Scientists have found that some cancerous cells have a gene mutation that affects the enzyme. Because the telomere does not become shorter and shorter, the cells become immortal and are able to divide forever. The researchers at Duke Cancer Institute found nine cancer types that are highly associated with this gene mutation. All of the cancerous cells arise in areas of the body where there is a low rate of cell renewal, so it seems that the cells needed such a mechanism to stay alive. The cancer types [...]

2013-03-23T10:36:35-07:00March, 2013|Oral Cancer News|
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Bidi smoking causes cancer

Source: www.vancouverdesi.com Author: staff The country’s (India) first such study, using cohort groups, has proven conclusively that smoking bidi (tobacco wrapped in the leaf of the tendu plant) increases the propensity for cancer. P. Jayalekshmi of the Regional Cancer Centre (RCC) here, who led the study on bidi-induced lung, oral, laryngeal and hypopharyngeal cancer, said lung cancer risk among former bidi smokers was higher than in those who never smoked bidis. Separate studies on the impact of bidi smoking on lung and oral cancers, and cancers of larynx and hypopharynx in close to 70,000 men between the age group of 30-84 in Karunagappally in Kollam district shows that bidi is among the most harmful smoking products. “The risk of cancer affecting the cheek (buccal) and lips (labial) showed a nearly four-fold increase in the cohort study covering 66,277 men. “Excessive use of bidis significantly increased the risk associated with cancer of the gum and mouth,” Jayalekshmi said. The mainstream smoke of bidi contains a much higher concentration of carcinogenic hydrocarbons. Bidi smokers also are found to be taking five puffs per minute, compared to two puffs by cigarette smokers in the same time, the study showed. The cohort study on bidi and lung cancer, covering a total of 65,829 men, found that bidi smokers had a 3.9-fold increase in lung cancer incidence, when compared to those who never smoked bidis. The study showed that tongue cancer risk increased significantly among men who smoked bidis for 30 years or longer, and [...]

2013-03-23T10:28:32-07:00March, 2013|Oral Cancer News|
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Noninvasive oral cancer test eases patient fears

Source: www.drbicuspid.com Author: Donna Domino, Features Editor A new, noninvasive cytology test for oral cancer, ClearPrep OC, is being offered free to dentists. The test, aimed at "watch and wait" lesions, is less expensive than biopsies and less frightening for patients, according to Resolution Biomedical, the company that is commercializing it. The chairside oral cancer test -- which can be ordered directly from the company -- is designed to be a diagnostic option for assessing lesions when a biopsy is not warranted or the patient fears getting a biopsy, according to Donald Williams, MD, chief medical officer of Resolution Biomedical. The test involves a cyto-brush sampling method that measures gross changes in the nuclear DNA content of oral epithelial cells, providing information about the precancerous or cancerous state of a lesion, the company explained. The samples are sent to medical testing labs, and the report is sent to the dentist within four to five days, the same time frame as biopsies. Dentists send the samples to the company, which prepares the slides and sends them to labs, which prepare a diagnostic report for the dentists. "It's a way to triage patients where something may be suspicious but the patient is balking about getting a biopsy," Dr. Williams told DrBicuspid.com. "It could be leukoplakia lesions or thrush instead of an indication of a neoplasm. It rules out biopsies without an invasive process." When dentists refer patients to periodontists to get biopsies of suspicious lesions, many patients don't follow through on the [...]

2013-03-23T10:22:46-07:00March, 2013|Oral Cancer News|
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Spike in oral cancers puzzles experts

Source: www.turnto23.com Author: Victoria Colliver/San Francisco Chronicle Christine Schulz has never visited England, but she speaks with the clipped inflection of a vaguely British accent. It's not an affectation but, rather, the mystifying after-effect of an 18-hour surgery she endured in 2009 to remove about half her tongue due to a cancerous growth that had spread to her lymph nodes. Surgeons used skin from her wrist and upper leg to re-create the missing portions of her tongue. Through long term speech therapy, Schulz, 47, of Hollister, Calif., re-learned how to eat and talk with her reconstructed tongue. If she sounds as if she's from a different country, Schulz isn't complaining. "At the moment I woke up from surgery, I realized exactly what a huge deal it was," she said, describing how she had an incision in her throat to allow her to breathe and was prohibited to speak in her earliest days of healing. Oral cancers, which include those of the mouth and tongue, are most common in men over 60 with a long history of smoking or chewing tobacco, often combined with heavy drinking. But in recent years, a spike in the incidence of oral cancers is being attributed to human papilloma virus or HPV. But Schulz's cancer was neither HPV-- nor tobacco-related. That puts her in a camp of fewer than 7 percent of all oral cancers that have no identifiable cause, according to the Oral Cancer Foundation, an advocacy group based in Newport Beach, Calif. "Surprisingly, a [...]

2013-03-23T10:17:08-07:00March, 2013|Oral Cancer News|
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Decoding the oral leukoplakia/oral cancer link

Source: www.drbicuspid.com Author: DrBicuspid Staff Is there a direct relationship between oral leukoplakia and tobacco and alcohol consumption? Do all oral leukoplakias lead to oral squamous cell carcinoma (OSCC)? Is it possible to detect premalignant oral leukoplakia? These are some of the questions a recent literature review in Oral Diseases attempted to answer (January 11, 2013). A team of researchers from Italy, Spain, the U.K., and the U.S. did a literary search of Medline/PubMed, Embase, and Best Evidence from January 1966 to June 2012. Search terms included leukoplakia, oral leukoplakia, preneoplastic oral, precancerous oral, oral precancerous, oral dysplasia, oral mucosal lesion, proliferative verrucous leukoplakia, multifocal leukoplakias, tobacco, and alcohol. The searches were designed to help the study authors address four key questions: 1.Do tobacco and alcohol cause oral leukoplakias? 2.What percentage of oral leukoplakias evolve into OSCC? 3.Can practitioners distinguish between premalignant and innocent oral leukoplakias? 4.Is proliferative verrucous leukoplakia (PVL) a specific entity or just a form of multifocal leukoplakia? For the purposes of this study, the term oral leukoplakia was used to recognize "predominantly white plaques of questionable risk, having excluded (other) known diseases or disorders that carry no increased risk of cancer." Tobacco, alcohol, and oral leukoplakia Although oral leukoplakia is generally considered one of the primary clinical precursors of OSCC, "the role of alcohol and smoking in this disorder has never been thoroughly assessed," the researchers wrote. "Existing evidence suggests that tobacco and alcohol could be associated with at least a subset of [oral leukoplakia]." It [...]

2013-03-18T11:47:44-07:00March, 2013|Oral Cancer News|
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