8/18/2007 Helsinki, Finland press release Science Daily (www.sciencedaily.com) Most head-and-neck cancers that recur locally after prior full-dose conventional radiation therapy respond to Boron Neutron Capture Therapy (BNCT). These results were obtained in a Phase I/II study at the Helsinki University Hospital, Finland. The scientific director of the research program, professor Heikki Joensuu, University of Helsinki, considers the results clinically significant and very interesting. They open a new field for BNCT, since thus far BNCT has been evaluated only in the treatment of some brain tumours. The follow-up results of 12 patients diagnosed with cancer of the head-and-neck and treated in a prospective clinical trial were reported in the International Journal of Radiation Oncology, Biology & Physics. All patients had cancer of the head-and-neck that had recurred locally after surgery and conventional radiation therapy. Ten out of the 12 patients had substantial tumour shrinkage following BNCT, and in 7 cases the tumour disappeared completely. Adverse effects of treatment were moderate and resembled those of conventional radiation therapy. The study has been expanded, and up to 30 subjects will now be allowed to enter the study protocol. Boron neutron capture therapy (BNCT) is a form of targeted radiation treatment for cancer. It is still considered experimental. In this method a boron-containing compound (boronophenylalanine) is first infused into a peripheral vein, following which the compound accumulates in cancer tissue. Cancer is subsequently irradiated with neutrons obtained from a nuclear reactor, which causes boron atoms to split within the cancerous tissue as a result [...]

8/15/2007 web-based article R. Colin Johnson EETimes.com A new in-office test for oral cancer that takes only 10 minutes will soon be available using lab-on-a-chip microfluidic electronics, according to scientists supported by the National Institutes of Health. Billed as the world's first fully automated, all-in-one test, the lab-on-a-chip electronic reader, which is about half the size of a toaster, can scan cells brushed from the inside of the mouth with a swab. Crafted by the University of Texas (Austin) in the lab of Professor John McDevitt, the prototype has so far confirmed that the test can accurately perform the necessary measurements in under 10 minutes. Test development was supported by the NIH's National Institute of Dental and Craniofacial Research, which plans to recommend that dentists use the test to screen for oral cancer during routine checkups. Lab-on-a-chip concentrates the sample from the swab in microfluidic channels and then mixes fluorescent marker proteins among the cells in the sample. Any suspect cells will become fluorescent. Test results showed that the quick 10-minute test was just as accurate as the overnight flow cytometry version of the test. When timed to the minute, the lab-on-a-chip test took 9 minutes and the traditional flow cytometry test took 2 hours and 5 minutes (although laboratories routinely run such tests in batches overnight).

8/15/2007 Memphis, TN staff CancerConsultants.com According to an early online article recently published in the journal Head and Neck, treatment of patients with cancer cachexia with Celebrex® (celecoxib) resulted in weight gain, increased body mass index (BMI), and better quality of life. Cachexia is a debilitating and life-threatening effect of advanced cancer and other diseases diseases. Cachexia is diagnosed when there is an involuntary weight loss of greater than 5% within a three- to six-month period. Cachexia involves anorexia, fat and muscle tissue wasting, psychological distress, and reduced quality of life. It is thought that cachexia has several different causes, which include: metabolic abnormalities, inflammatory processes, decreased food intake, as well as a number of unidentified issues. Currently, there is much room for improvement in treatment for cachexia. Celebrex is a non-steroidal anti-inflammatory drug. Celebrex reduces the activity of cyclooxygenase 2 (COX-2)—a protein involved in the promotion of inflammation. Because inflammation appears to be a component in the development of cachexia, researchers from the University of North Carolina recently conducted a clinical study to evaluate Celebrex in the treatment of cachexia. This study included 11 patients with head and neck cancer or cancer of the gastrointestinal system. Patients were treated for 21 days prior to chemotherapy with either Celebrex or placebo (inactive substitute). - Patients treated with Celebrex experienced weight gain and an increase in BMI, but patients who received placebo experienced weight loss and a decline in BMI. - Patients treated with Celebrex reported better quality of life. The [...]

8/14/2007 web-based article Vikki Chapman Clinical Biology (www.rsc.org/Publishing/Journals) A microscopic sieve opens the way to earlier diagnosis of oral cancer, say US researchers. Worldwide, oral cancer is the sixth most common cancer and is often fatal as many patients are not identified until the cancer is at an advanced stage. Current detection methods rely on the physical identification of a growth, followed by biopsy to identify whether the growth is cancerous. Now, John McDevitt and co-workers at the University of Texas at Austin have developed a sensor capable of identifying oral cancer at an early stage. The device identifies cancer-related markers, in this case a protein receptor called epidermal growth factor receptor, located on the surface of cells found in saliva and other body fluids. These are present before an obvious tumour is visible. The device captures cancer cells on a microsieve membrane The sensor is a multi-layer structure on a Perspex base. A cell culture suspension flows through the device, and a membrane within the base acts as a microsieve to capture marked cells before the suspension flows out. Once captured, the cells on the membrane are fluorescently labelled, automatically imaged and analysed. By comparing the labelled sensor to a control, it is possible to detect whether the sample contains the cancer markers. The new sensor is much quicker than conventional techniques, taking under ten minutes to prepare the samples. It also requires significantly less sample and reagent, reducing cost. This opens the possibility of point-of-care oral cancer screening [...]

8/14/2007 web-based article staff foxnews.com Users of smokeless tobacco are exposed to higher amounts of tobacco-specific carcinogenic molecules than cigarette smokers, according to researchers at the University of Minnesota Cancer Center. In a study comparing 182 chewing tobacco or oral snuff users with 420 cigarette smokers, the Minnesota researchers found that snuff users were exposed to higher levels of 4-(methylnitrosamino)-1-(3-pyridyl)-1-butanone (NNK) than smokers. NNK is a human carcinogen known to produce lung cancer as well as cancers of the pancreas, nasal mucosa and liver in laboratory animals. “Smokeless tobacco products have been proposed by some as safer alternatives to cigarettes, but they are not safe,” said author Stephen S. Hecht, Ph.D., professor of cancer prevention at the University of Minnesota Cancer Center, in a news release. “The only likely safe alternative to smoking is the long term use of nicotine replacement therapy as a means to reduce dependence.” The study participants included men and women aged 17 to 80 who had sought – but had yet to begin – treatment for tobacco addiction, and who used conventional, popular U.S. brands of smokeless tobacco. Hecht and his colleagues found that levels of various known carcinogens were higher in the urine of snuff users than smokers, when adjusted for age and gender, according to the findings reported in the August issue of Cancer Epidemiology, Biomarkers & Prevention, a journal of the American Association for Cancer Research. . “American smokeless tobacco manufacturers are forbidden by federal law from claiming that smokeless tobacco is [...]

8/14/2007 Moscow, Russia S Subramanian et al. Acta Otorhinolaryngol Ital, April 1, 2007; 27(2): 309-16 In spite of advancement in science, molecular medicine and target therapies, surgical treatment of metastases using different techniques, from selective neck dissection to extended radical neck dissections, form a major part in the management of neck metastases. This is due to the fact that, so far, there is no treatment more effective for resectable neck metastases, than surgery. Since most head and neck cancer patients die due to loco-regional progression of disease, and a very large majority of them do not live long enough to develop distant metastases, the status of neck lymph nodes remains the single most important prognostic factor, in these cases. In the 100 years since George Washington Crile described Radical Neck Dissection, we now have a much better understanding of the biological and clinical behaviour of neck metastases. This has ultimately led to the conservative approaches of selective neck dissections depending on the primary site of the tumour, type of tumour and the characteristic features of the metastases themselves. A search of the literature on neck lymph nodes and neck dissections, on the internet and in old publications, not available in the electronic media, has been carried out. Using this as the basis, we arranged, in sequence, the dates of various landmarks in the treatment of head and neck cancer related to neck dissections to emphasize the overall process of evolution of neck dissection thereby showing how the field of head [...]

9/11/2007 web-based article staff Biocomare.com So vital is the p53 tumor suppressor gene in controlling cancer that its dysfunction is linked to more than half of human cancers. At the same time, the gene’s capacity for shutting down cell growth, even causing cells to commit suicide if necessary, is so absolute that it must be tightly regulated to maintain the optimal balance between protecting against cancer and permitting normal growth. Now, a study by scientists at The Wistar Institute reveals new levels of subtlety in the body’s management of this all-important tumor suppressor gene and the protein it produces. The experiments show that, while the addition of a specific molecule at a particular site on the p53 protein prevents it from acting, the addition of a second copy of the same molecule at the same site reverses the effect, sending p53 into action. Further, removal of the second copy returns the protein to its repressed state. In addition to the implications for understanding the activity of the p53 gene, the findings also outline an important new cycle of gene-regulating modifications involving the addition and removal of the molecules, called methyl groups, that may be widespread in the genome. A report on the study appears in the September 6 issue of Nature. “The p53 tumor suppressor is extremely potent in halting cell growth,” says Shelley L. Berger, Ph.D., the Hilary Koprowski Professor at The Wistar Institute and senior author on the study. “So, as critical as p53 is in protecting against [...]

8/8/2007 Edinburgh, Scotland staff PharmaLive (www.medadnews.com) In its latest Macroview event report, Wood Mackenzie examines the link between sexually-transmitted Human Papilloma Virus (HPV) and a growing epidemic of oropharyngeal (head and neck) cancer in non-smokers, and raises the question of whether, or not, teenage boys should be vaccinated against HPV, thereby halting the development of HPV-associated cancer in the first place. There has been a lot publicised in the press in recent months about a link between oral sex and throat cancer, and HPV has now been hailed as a new therapeutic target in the future fight against head and neck cancer. Furthermore, there has also been much press coverage recently over the emergence of a new set of prophylactic cervical cancer vaccines which specifically target HPV. Lisa Kelly, Senior Analyst at Wood Mackenzie says “Merck & Co’s Gardasil has been launched in the US and Europe and targets two serotypes that account for approximately 70% of cervical cancers (HPV 16 and 18). The HPV 16 serotype has now been shown to be associated with approximately 90% of HPV-induced oropharyngeal cancers.” Thus, as young women are already being vaccinated against cervical cancer, having serotype HPV 16 in these vaccines offers the potential for cross-over protection against oropharyngeal cancer when vaccinating. Wood Mackenzie’s report puts forward the notion that the link between HPV and oropharyngeal cancer opens the debate as to whether men should be vaccinated against HPV. Kelly says: “The challenges are that clinical trials of these vaccines to date [...]

8/8/2007 web-based article Wendy Koch www.usatoday.com The Marlboro Man, that cigarette-smoking icon of the tobacco industry, is more than a half-century old. If he were conceived today, there might not be just a cigarette dangling from his mouth. He might also have, tucked into his pocket, a cellphone-size container holding a dozen pouches of snus. Snus? It rhymes with "goose," (cynics might say "noose"), and is a Swedish type of smokeless tobacco that's not your grandfather's dip or chew. Snus comes in teabag-like pouches that a user sticks between the upper lip and gum, leaves there for up to 30 minutes and discards without spitting. As no-smoking laws sweep the nation and cigarette sales continue to fall, Big Tobacco is alarming the public health community by devising other ways to try to make tobacco appealing. With smokeless products representing the only booming part of the U.S. tobacco market, snus is an effort to boost sales with a product that — unlike most smokeless ones — doesn't require users to spit out the residue. Snus also represents something more: an attempt to move smokeless tobacco beyond stereotypical users such as baseball players and rodeo cowboys, and into offices or restaurants where people want a nicotine fix but can't light up. "This is a growth strategy for us," says Bill Phelps, spokesman for Philip Morris USA, the nation's biggest tobacco company and maker of Marlboro, the top-selling cigarette. In Dallas this month, Philip Morris is launching its first smokeless product with a [...]

8/7/2007 Paramus, NJ R.J. Ignelzi Paramus Post (www.paramuspost.com) Once again, Mom was right. For years she hounded you to brush and floss regularly to help keep your teeth and gums healthy. Little did she or anyone else know then that following her oral hygiene advice may also protect you from serious illness and disease. There's growing evidence that gum or periodontal disease may put you at increased risk for heart attacks, stroke, diabetes and some cancers. In March, a study published in the New England Journal of Medicine found that treating severe gum disease can improve the function of blood vessel walls, improving heart health. The April issue of the Journal of Periodontology published studies that found periodontal bacteria in the arteries of people with heart disease and in the placentas of pregnant women with high blood pressure. Another study in that journal found that gum disease may predispose some people to developing early signs of diabetes. And earlier this year, a Harvard School of Public Health study of more than 50,000 men showed that those who had gum disease had double the risk of getting pancreatic cancer than those without gum disease. "Although the cause and effect of periodontal disease linked to other diseases is not absolutely proven, the data is starting to pile up," says Dr. David Richards, a San Diego periodontist who emphasized that it's more important than ever to "take aggressive action against periodontal disease." An estimated 80 percent of American adults have some form of [...]