Source: Columbus Dispatch (dispatch.com)
Author: Misti Crane

Oral-cancer patients with tumors that contain human papillomavirus are more likely to survive than those whose cancer does not involve HPV, a study found.

The Ohio State Comprehensive Cancer Center doctor who led the new study said future research should focus on the differences between the groups.

Dr. Maura Gillison, a medical oncologist and head and neck cancer specialist, shared her findings as part of a preview of studies to be presented at the annual meeting of the American Society of Clinical Oncology in Orlando, Fla., this month.

Details of her work were released with a handful of other studies, several of which highlighted an increasing focus on individualized cancer care.

Chemotherapy patients are likely to cheer the findings from one of the studies shared yesterday: It found that ginger significantly reduces nausea.

A study of patients at 23 private oncology practices compared nausea in those who took a placebo with those who took 0.5-gram, 1-gram and 1.5-gram doses of ginger in capsule form. All of the patients received standard anti-nausea medications.

Those who took 0.5-gram or 1-gram doses of ginger reported about a 40 percent reduction in nausea, said lead researcher Julie Ryan of the University of Rochester.

The study didn’t look at foods or drinks that contain ginger, but Ryan said she suspects ginger in other forms also would be beneficial. She cautioned that some products contain ginger flavoring, not actual dried or fresh ginger.

A gram of ground ginger is about half a teaspoon, she said.

Even with the widespread availability of anti-nausea medicines, about 70 percent of chemo patients report problems, Ryan said.

Gillison’s oral-cancer study found that 88 percent of HPV-positive patients were alive two years after diagnosis, compared with 66 percent of HPV-negative patients. The study included 323 patients and is the largest and most definitive research on the topic to date.

It focused specifically on cancers in the back of the mouth, known as oropharynx cancers. More than 34,000 U.S. cases of oral or pharyngeal cancer are diagnosed each year; about 11,000 of those are oropharynx cancers. Of those who have oropharynx cancers, 64 percent are caused by HPV.

Differentiating between cancers caused by tobacco and alcohol use and those caused by HPV is important because patients should understand their individual prognoses, and doctors might discover that treatments affect the groups differently, Gillison said.

HPV also is associated with cervical cancer in women and anal cancer, particularly in those infected with HIV.

In general, doctors and scientists are thinking more and more about cancer in terms of cause and patient characteristics, particularly genetic factors, and tailoring treatments as a result.

“Oncology is no longer a one-size-fits-all medicine,” said Dr. Richard L. Schilsky, president of the American Society of Clinical Oncology.

Matching the right treatment to the right patient helps patients avoid costs and side effects they don’t need, and can mean they live longer, healthier lives, he said.