1/26/2008 United Kingdom press release MTB Europe (www.mtbeurope.info) UK optical imaging company Michelson Diagnostics Ltd (MDL) has announced successful initial results from clinical testing, on oral cancer tissue, of its groundbreaking optical coherence tomography (OCT) imaging technology by partner University College Hospital, London (UCH). The tests, performed by UCH scientists on cancerous and suspected cancerous human oral issue, were designed to establish the potential for MDL’s optical imaging technology to revolutionise head and neck cancer diagnosis and treatment. The tests involved comparing images taken by the MDL scanner of the tissue samples, with histopathology images analyzed by trained pathologists. "We are very excited about the breakthrough in image quality that this system offers," said Mr Colin Hopper, Senior Maxillofacial Surgeon at UCH. "OCT could revolutionise the surveillance of pre-cancers in the mouth and eliminate the waiting time for biopsy results. It should also minimise surgery through improved disease mapping. This will provide cost- effective treatments with improved cure rates.” In the tests, 25 oral tissue samples were collected from 14 patients of the UCH National Medical Laser Centre. The samples were scanned with the MDL OCT imaging system and then prepared for analysis by Pathologist Dr Brendan Conn. Clinical Research Fellow Mr Waseem Jerjes said, “The histopathology results showed that it is possible to identify surface structures such as keratin and epithelial layers, the epidermal–dermal junction and areas of cellular crowding, as well as any pathological changes that occur at that level; this is very exciting, this method seems to [...]

1/26/2008 London, England Roger Highfield Telegraph.co.uk A "camera in a pill" that can be swallowed whole to check for warning signs of cancer is being tested by American doctors. The capsule measures one quarter of an inch by three quarters, small enough to be comfortably swallowed, and creates a high-resolution colour picture of a person's insides. Devised by a team at the University of Washington, Seattle, the pill records 15 colour images every second. It is attached to a tether which allows doctors to control more accurately what they view than with previous devices. Its first use will be to screen for signs of oesophageal cancer - cancer of the gullet. The disease is currently diagnosed in around 8,000 people annually in the UK. "This could be the foundation for the future of endoscopy," says lead author Dr Eric Seibel, whose findings will be described in the journal IEEE Transactions on Biomedical Engineering. Oesophageal cancer is linked to smoking and drinking and often follows a condition called Barrett's oesophagus, a change in the gullet lining. This can be healed, avoiding the cancer that results in around 10 per cent of cases. But because internal scans are expensive, most people don't discover they are affected until it has progressed to cancer. By that stage the survival rate is less than 15 per cent. Even though the camera's single eye sees only one spot - pixel - of the image at a time, it combines all the information as it swings around [...]

1/25/2008 New Rochelle, NY staff Genetic Engineering News (www.genengnews.com) GenVec entered into a manufacturing development agreement with Cobra Biomanufacturing related to its anticancer agent, TNFerade™. The therapy is being evaluated as a treatment for pancreatic, head and neck, and rectal cancers as well as metastatic melanoma. The most advanced program is a Phase II/III trial in in the pancreatic indication. The agreement will cover technology transfer, scale-up, and validation of the manufacturing process for TNFerade through cGMP consistency lots. These will be produced at Cobra’s facility in Oxford, U.K. “Activities under this agreement will establish a clear path for the submission of the chemistry, manufacturing, and controls portion of a biological license application for TNFerade as GenVec works towards the completion of our current Phase III clinical trial,” says Bryan Butman, Ph.D., svp of vector operations at GenVec. The firm is developing TNFerade for use in combination with radiation and/or chemotherapy. The treatment is an adenovector, which contains the gene for tumor necrosis factor-alpha. After administration, TNFerade reportedly stimulates the production of TNFá in the tumor.

1/24/2008 London, England staff CNNMoney.com U.K. diagnostics company Lab21 Ltd. said Thursday it's developed a test for a gene which plays a vital role in whether or not cancer patients will respond to certain drugs. The Cambridge, England-based firm said the test is for the analysis of the K- ras gene. In around 40% of cancer patients this gene is mutated and the resulting protein can limit the effectiveness of some cancer therapies, it said. Scientists showed recently that cetuximab, a treatment for colorectal and head and neck cancer marketed by Bristol-Myers Squibb Co. (BMY) as Erbitux, is poorly responsive if the tumors carry a mutated K-ras gene. Research has also shown mutations in K-ras confer resistance to erlotinib, Genentech Inc. (DNA) and Roche Holding AG's (RHHBY) treatment for lung and pancreatic cancer, sold under the brand name Tarceva. Using the test means patients with the mutated K-ras gene could be given alternative drugs, which would improve their chances of successful treatment, reduce their exposure to potential toxicities and save cash, according to Graham Mullis, Lab21 Chief Executive Officer. "This form of personalized medicine whereby drugs are tailored to the genetic background of the target patient is becoming more important as more drugs are being developed which have clinical benefits for these specifically targeted patients," said Mullis. One well-known example is Herceptin, Genentech and Roche's blockbuster breast cancer treatment. It's designed for the treatment of cancers which overexpress a protein called HER-2 and patients are tested for this protein before [...]

1/23/2008 web-based article staff ScienceDaily.com For the first time researchers from Pennsylvania State University College of Medicine suggest a direct interaction between cigarette smoke carcinogens and the human papillomavirus that may lead to increased risk of cervical cancer. They report their findings in the January 2008 issue of the Journal of Virology. Cervical cancer is the third leading cancer type in women worldwide. Over 90% of the cases presented have been linked to human papillomavirus (HPV). Many women unknowingly carry HPV and the virus naturally regresses on its own over time. HPV will only progress into cervical cancer in a small percentage of women, but past studies have proposed cigarette smoking to be a likely influence. HPV types 16, 18, and 31 are the most commonly associated with cervical cancer. In the study researchers detected benzo[a]pyrene (BaP), a major carcinogen in cigarette smoke, in the cervical mucus and tested its interaction with HPV. Levels of HPV type 31 increased by 10-fold following exposure to high concentrations of the BaP carcinogen. Levels of HPV types 16 and 18 were also elevated after exposure to BaP. “Overall, BaP modulation of the HPV life cycle could potentially enhance viral persistence, host tissue carcinogenesis, and permissiveness for cancer progression,” say the researchers. Reference: S. Alam, M.J. Conway, H.S. Chen, C. Meyers. 2008. The cigarette smoke carcinogen benzo[a]pyrene enhances human papillomavirus synthesis. Journal of Virology, 82. 2: 1053-1058. Note: Adapted from materials provided by American Society for Microbiology, via EurekAlert!, a service of AAAS.

1/22/2008 Houston, TX Lynn Cook Houston Chronicle (www.chron.com) One American dies every hour from oral cancer. It's a startling statistic and one the dentist or hygienist might tell you about at your next routine teeth cleaning. That's because a growing number of dentist offices are asking patients to pay for a special oral cancer screening or sign a waiver acknowledging they refused the test. At least 100 area dentist offices are offering patients ViziLite Plus, an exam that typically costs $65 and is rarely covered by insurance. And more dentists are signing up for the swish-spit-and-survey tests, said Jeff Mazzarella, vice president of sales and marketing for Zila, the Phoenix-based pharmaceutical company marketing ViziLite. Tobacco users and heavy drinkers have long been considered the risk pool for cancers of the mouth. But a third cause — human papillomavirus — has emerged recently, said Grady Basler, director of the Dental Oncology Education Program associated with Texas A&M and Baylor universities. A recent article in the New England Journal of Medicine links sexually transmitted HPV — especially strains 16 and 18 that cause the overwhelming majority of cervical cancers — to oral cancer incidents in young people between 18 and 39. After years of declining case reports, cancers of the tongue, tonsils, palate and back of the throat are on the rise again. Data from the American Cancer Society show more than 34,000 new cases in the U.S. in 2007 — up 11 percent from 2006 and 24 percent over five years. [...]

1/20/2008 Chicago, IL Mallika Rao Medill Reports (news.medill.northwestern.edu) A military detection device designed by scientists at Illinois-based Argonne National Laboratory may soon help head-and-neck cancer patients battle the painful side effects of treatment. The device, a thermal imaging camera able to detect temperature differences smaller than a tenth of a degree, came out of scientists’ work on a national security project. It could soon enable head-and-neck oncologists to predict individual patients’ reactions to therapy, says a team of Argonne researchers and University of Chicago doctors, and to tailor treatment accordingly. The combined radiation/chemotherapy administered to most patients nearly always results in minor inflammation immediately, says Dr. Ezra Cohen, an oral oncologist who is heading up the University of Chicago team. “That inflammation should be accompanied by an increase in temperature,” he adds, one that the camera is equipped to sense. “Those who have a big increase, those we think are the patients that are going to have the bad side effects.” The group has studied six patients so far, a few of whom have experienced both a dramatic early rise in temperature and severe side effects. The evidence is still too small to arrive at any significant conclusions, cautions Cohen, but the findings are encouraging. While head-and-neck cancer accounts for only 3 to 5 percent of nationwide cancer incidence and is usually treatable, according to the National Institute of Health website, side effects from the most common therapies can be emotionally devastating and physically unbearable. Radiation therapy, in which energy [...]

1/20/2008 Providence, RI Delphine Schrank Providence Journal (projo.com) In the annals of beauty, the pompadour, the beehive and the Afro all had their day. Now comes the lifesaving haircut. From the padded swivel chairs in his Washington, D.C., barbershop, Clarence “Chile” Brace dispatched two freshly trimmed customers with hypertension straight to the emergency room. Around the corner, at the Divine Transformation Beauty Salon, beautician Arnica Ford cajoled a 300-plus-pound patron into trying a fiber-rich diet. And nearby, Marquita Wise opened her rose-garlanded hair salon, Fresh Cut II All About You, on a Sunday night to check the blood pressure of a client who had nearly fainted after learning that her daughter had died in a car crash. Brace, Ford and Wise are among African-American barbers and beauticians in five D.C. shops with blood pressure machines and digital scales tucked between hair-drying bonnets and bottles of shampoo. They have been enlisted in a program underwritten by insurers CareFirst BlueCross BlueShield and the MedStar Research Institute to combat coronary heart disease, the leading cause of death among black Americans. Modeled after a Baltimore program coordinated by the University of Maryland’s Department of Medicine, the D.C. program trains stylists how to screen clients for obesity and high blood pressure and when to urge them to follow up with a doctor. The plan is to be implemented in 12 shops by year’s end. “Everyone wants to be beautiful, whether they go to a hairstylist or barber or whether they go to a doctor,” Ford [...]

1/15/2008 web-based article Wildon R. Farwell et al JNCI Journal of the National Cancer Institute 2008 100(2):134-139 Background: Meta-analyses of trials of 3-hydroxy-3-methyl-glutaryl-CoA reductase inhibitors or statins for cardiovascular disease prevention have failed to show any statistically significant benefit of statins for cancer prevention. However, these trials included relatively young participants, who develop few cancers, and their follow-up periods may have been too short to detect an association between statin use and cancer incidence. We investigated this association in a population of veterans. Methods: We identified patients using antihypertensive medications but no cholesterol-lowering medications (n = 25594) and patients using statins (n = 37248) who were enrolled in the Veterans Affairs New England Healthcare System between January 1, 1997, and December 31, 2005. Age- and multivariable-adjusted Cox proportional hazards models were used to calculate the hazard ratio (HR) and its 95% confidence interval (CI) for cancer incidence, excluding nonmelanoma skin cancer, among patients taking statins compared with patients taking antihypertensive medications and among patients grouped by statin dose (as equivalent simvastatin dose). All statistical tests were two-sided. Results: The absolute incidence of total cancers was 9.4% among statin users and 13.2% among nonusers (difference = 3.8%, 95% CI = 3.3% to 4.3%, Pdifference < .001). Statin users had a statistically significant lower risk for total cancer than nonusers after adjustment for age (HR = 0.76, 95% CI = 0.73 to 0.80) and multiple potential confounders (HR = 0.74, 95% CI = 0.70 to 0.78). After multivariable adjustment, a statistically significantly [...]

1/13/2008 San Diego, CA Terri Somers SignonSanDiego.com For decades, people with tumors in the head and neck had few treatment options that didn't require surgery. There was general radiation therapy, which had plenty of side effects such as hair loss and damage to healthy tissue. And there was the Leskell Gamma Knife, a technology out of Sweden. It was the long-favored technology of radiologists and neurosurgeons because it applied a precisely focused beam of radiation at a tumor to destroy it, with little to no damage to surrounding tissue. But capitalism, drugs and technology have started to change the market. Now several companies are vying for physician and patient dollars by offering alternative radiation-therapy technologies. One of them is San Diego-based American Radiosurgery Inc., a company founded in 2000 by medical-device salesman John Clark. The company's Rotating Gamma System, which uses cobalt to produce radiation that kills tumors, is trying to grab a piece of the gold-standard Gamma Knife's market. With the friendly, energetic ease of a salesman, Clark describes his mission to expand his 30-employee company, which had about $10 million in revenue last year, as a typical David versus Goliath battle. Clark has his own money and that of fewer than 50 small investors riding on the battle, though he will not say how much. Elekta, the publicly traded Swedish company that makes the Gamma Knife, employs 2,000 people and has multiple products that earned $598 million in sales last year, according to Deloitte & Touche. The Gamma [...]