Oral Cancer News

Study reveals genetic diversity within tumors predicts outcome in head and neck cancer

Source: bionews-tx.com Researchers at the Massachusetts General Hospital (MGH) and Massachusetts Eye and Ear Infirmary have developed a new way to predict the survival rate of patients who have squamous cell carcinoma of the head and neck, thanks to a study partially funded by a CPRIT grant. One of the problems with treating cancer is the degree of genetic heterogeneity within a tumor. What this means is that there are sub populations of tumor cells within a given tumor that have different mutations. This makes the cancer difficult to treat because some cells due to their different mutations will be resistant to the same treatment. According to Edmund Mroz, PhD at the MGH center for Cancer Research (lead author of a report in Cancer on May 20, 2013), this new method of measuring genetic heterogeneity can be applied to a wide range of cancers. (Additional co-authors included Curtis Pickering, PhD, and Jeffrey Myers, MD, PhD, both from the University of Texas M.D. Anderson Cancer Center.) Prior to this study, genes and proteins that are involved with treatment resistance have been identified, however, there has been no way to measure tumor heterogeneity to predict patient survival. Mroz and his group of researchers working in the lab of James Rocco, MD, PhD at MGH developed this new measure by looking at advanced gene sequencing data to calculate a number that indicates the genetic variance found in sub populations of cells within a tumor. They dubbed this new procedure as the mutant-allele tumor [...]

Oral Cancer Foundation News Team - A2013-05-25T14:02:13-07:00May, 2013|Oral Cancer News|

Heartburn and throat cancer: is there a link?

Source: www.huffingtonpost.com Author: staff Heartburn may raise a person's risk for throat cancer, but it seems that antacids could have a protective effect, according to a new study. The research, published in the journal Cancer Epidemiology, Biomarkers & Prevention, shows that people with a history of frequent heartburn, also known as acid reflux, have a 78 percent higher risk of developing vocal cord or throat cancers. But they also found that for people with frequent heartburn, taking antacids can lower risk of these cancers by 41 percent. "Additional studies are needed to validate the chemopreventive effects of antacids among patients with frequent heartburn," study researcher Scott M. Langevin, Ph.D., a postdoctoral research fellow at Brown University, said in a statement. "The identification of gastric reflux as a risk factor for throat and vocal cord cancers, however, may have implications in terms of risk stratification and identification of high-risk patients." The study included 631 people who were part of a case-control study in Boston, 468 of whom had throat cancer and 163 of whom had vocal cord cancer, as well as 1,234 people with no cancer history. Researchers analyzed family history of cancer, smoking history and drinking history of all the study participants, as well as presence of HPV 16 viral protein antigens since HPV can cause some head and neck cancers. Researchers found that the increased risk for throat and vocal cord cancers was higher among the people experiencing frequent heartburn, even when they had no history of smoking or [...]

Oral Cancer Foundation News Team - A2013-05-25T13:52:08-07:00May, 2013|Oral Cancer News|

Big Data Unveils Exciting Head and Neck Cancer Targets

BioscienceTechnology.comCynthia FoxMonday, May 20, 2013 Genome sequencing of head and neck cancers may quickly—and soon—spur new therapies. There are 20 tumor types being studied by the massive, $100 million Cancer Genome Atlas (TCGA) project. Head and neck squamous cell carcinoma (HNSCC) is the eighth to be unveiled. The first, glioblastoma, has been cited in a whopping 2000-plus manuscripts. “That’s an enormous number of citations,” said University of North Carolina medical oncologist David Hayes at the recent American Association for Cancer Research (AACR) meeting. Yet, “the squamous cell carcinoma of the head and neck dataset is much, much bigger. “This is a very big project.” Much clinically relevant HNSCC data was released at AACR, and more will be released at the May American Society of Clinical Oncology meeting, Hayes said in an email. Hayes is national co-chair of TCGA's Data Analysis Subgroup. The frequently fatal HNSCC is the fifth most common cancer globally; sixth in the US. It is overwhelmingly associated with smoking (80% attributable risk). The rest is linked to an epidemic of the Human Papilloma Virus (HPV). Conducting an exhaustive series of genomic tests on tumor samples from 279 patients, the overarching find made by Hayes’ hundreds-strong TCGA group was that HNSCCs fall into four clinically relevant subtypes: basal, mesenchymal, atypical, and classical. Furthermore, there are surprising, major similarities between lung cancer and non-HPV (smoking) related HNSCCs, and between cervical cancer and HPV-related HNSCCs. For instance, in non-HPV-driven cancers, the group located more than 30 sites of significant “somatic [...]

Charlotte Parker2013-05-22T14:06:21-07:00May, 2013|Oral Cancer News|

Bankruptcy Rate Doubles With Cancer Diagnosis

Nick MulcahyMay 15, 2013Medscape Today Adults diagnosed with cancer are 2.65 times more likely to declare bankruptcy than adults without cancer, according to a new study. In addition, bankruptcy rates are 2- to 5-fold higher among younger cancer patients than among older cancer patients, report the study authors, led by Scott Ramsey, MD, PhD, an internist and health economist at the Fred Hutchinson Cancer Research Center in Seattle, Washington. Dr. Ramsey and colleagues used various databases to match cancer patients diagnosed from 1995 to 2009 with adults without cancer in western Washington. Of 197,840 adults who were diagnosed with cancer in that region during the study period, 4408 (2.2%) filed for bankruptcy protection after diagnosis. Of the age- and sex-matched control population without cancer, only 2291 (1.1%) filed for bankruptcy. "This study found strong evidence of a link between cancer diagnosis and increased risk of bankruptcy," the authors write in their paper, which was published online today in Health Affairs. The relation between a cancer diagnosis and bankruptcy is less well understood than that between high medical expenses and the likelihood of a bankruptcy filing, according to a press statement. "This is an important study," said Melissa Jacoby, JD, from the University of North Carolina School of Law in Chapel Hill, in an email to Medscape Medical News. She is is an expert in bankruptcy, but was not involved in this research. The relative — not the absolute — rate of bankruptcy among cancer patients is most notable here, she said. "Remember that bankruptcy filings, at [...]

Charlotte Parker2013-05-20T13:53:29-07:00May, 2013|Oral Cancer News|

Cancer jabs for girls

Katharine Child & Denise Williams 16 May, 2013 01:15Source: Times Live Image by: Gallo Images/Thinkstock Fresh from his battle to reduce HIV infections and make antiretrovirals freely available to almost two million South Africans infected with the virus that causes Aids, Health Minister Aaron Motsoaledi is now taking on cervical cancer. In parliament yesterday, Motsoaledi announced that girls as young as nine at poorer primary schools would be given free vaccinations against human papilloma virus (HPV) from February. As many as 520000 girls aged between nine and 10 will be vaccinated against HPV, which causes cervical cancer. It is important that girls be vaccinated before they are sexually active if they are to be protected against HPV. More South African women are killed by cervical cancer than by any other type of cancer. Black women and HIV-positive women are particularly vulnerable to the disease. The drive to vaccinate schoolgirls was prompted by the severity and prevalence of the disease in young women, said Motsoaledi. He said it was not known what the vaccination roll-out would cost but he was negotiating with pharmaceutical companies on the pricing of the vaccine. "It's not about the money; it's about the human suffering ... we are obliged at all times to put money aside for treatment but we are not obliged at all times to put money aside for prevention," said Motsoaledi. He said about 6000 women were treated each year for cervical cancer in public hospitals at a cost of R100000 [...]

Charlotte Parker2013-05-16T15:26:32-07:00May, 2013|Oral Cancer News|

Public lacks awareness of head and neck cancer

Source: www.alberniportal.ca Author: Leatitia Michael A survey reveals that the general public, including those who smoke, do not know very much about oral, head, and neck cancer (OHNC). There were nearly 40,000 new cases of oral, head and neck cancer diagnosed last year in the USA, of which 85 per cent could be linked to tobacco use and heavy alcohol consumption. Yet, according to a survey from the Medical University of South Carolina, the public remains largely unaware of the risks. In the study, over 1,000 members of the public were telephoned and 62 per cent said they were not knowledgeable about OHNC. Among smokers, the lack of awareness ran at 58 per cent. Under half of non-smokers and smokers knew that smoking was a risk factor. Hoarseness was correctly identified as a symptom by only one per cent of smokers and two per cent overall. But 17 per cent of the sample incorrectly named headache as a symptom. People can spot the signs and symptoms of OHNC themselves, but 94 per cent had not been told to look for problems like mouth sores that do not heal. And only 26 per cent had been check for this by a doctor. Clearly there is some way to go in raising awareness among the public of OHNC.

Oral Cancer Foundation News Team - A2013-05-14T08:35:21-07:00May, 2013|Oral Cancer News|

Michael Douglas: It took doctors nine months to figure out walnut-sized tumor at the back of my tongue was throat cancer

Source: www.nydailynews.com Author: Corky Siemaszko Michael Douglas said the tumor at the back of his tongue was the size of a walnut, but it still took doctors nine months to figure out it was throat cancer. “I knew something was wrong,” he said. “My tooth was really sore, and I thought I had an infection.” But the ear-nose-and-throat doctors and periodontists he consulted kept giving him antibiotics. “And then more antibiotics, but I still had pain,” he said. Finally, in 2010, a doctor in Montreal figured out that thing on his tongue was tumor. “Two days later, after the biopsy, the doctor called and said I had to come in,” Douglas recalled in a wide-ranging interview with New York magazine. “He told it me it was stage-four cancer. I said, ‘Stage four. Jesus.’ “And that was that. After complaining for nine months and them not finding anything, and then they told me I was stage four? That was a big day.” Douglas not only talked about his brush with mortality, he also chatted about his Hollywood comeback. He plays flamboyant piano tickler Liberace in an HBO biopic, “Behind the Candelabra,” that airs May 26. “Liberace loved sex,” he said. But the “Wall Street” star’s revelation that he had cancer sent a scare through Hollywood, where the words “stage four” were looked at as a death sentence. And for a time, Douglas looked like hell — losing 45 pounds as he subsisted on mostly on matzo ball soup as he healed. [...]

Oral Cancer Foundation News Team - A2013-05-14T08:31:53-07:00May, 2013|Oral Cancer News|

Study examines role of DNA, HPV in oral cancer survival

Source: www.drbicuspid.com Author: DrBicuspid Staff High-risk types of human papillomavirus (HPV) are increasingly associated with oropharyngeal squamous cell carcinoma (OPSCC). However, HPV-positive OPSCC is highly curable, and patients with HPV have better survival compared with HPV-negative patients, whose cancers are usually associated with alcohol and tobacco use. To better understand the molecular mechanisms underlying these differences, Jochen Hess, PhD, and colleagues at University Hospital Heidelberg monitored changes in DNA modifications in HPV-positive and HPV-negative OPSCCs (Journal of Clinical Investigation, May 1, 2013). They applied an array-based approach to monitor global changes in CpG island hypermethylation between HPV-negative and HPV-positive OPSCCs, and identified a specific pattern of differentially methylated regions that critically depends on the presence of viral transcripts. This DNA modification pattern was significantly correlated with improved survival in three separate groups of OPSCC patients, the researchers noted. "Our study highlights specific alterations in global gene promoter methylation in HPV-driven OPSCCs and identifies a signature that predicts the clinical outcome in OPSCCs," they concluded.

Oral Cancer Foundation News Team - A2013-05-14T06:56:32-07:00May, 2013|Oral Cancer News|

Drug Designed To Restore Cell Suicide In HPV-Related Head And Neck Cancer

Article Date: 10 Apr 2013 - 1:00 PDT Source: Medical News Today Researchers have discovered a new mechanism by which the human papilloma virus (HPV) causes head and neck cancer, and they have designed a drug to block that mechanism. Though further research is needed, the new agent might offer a safer treatment for these tumors when combined with a tapered dose of standard chemotherapy. HPV-positive head and neck cancer has become three times more common since the 1970s, and it could reach epidemic levels in the future, say researchers at the Ohio State University Comprehensive Cancer Center - Arthur G. James Cancer Hospital and Richard J. Solove Research Institute (OSUCCC - James) who led the study. "We believe these findings will help meet the real need for more effective and safer therapy for a growing number of HPV-positive head and neck cancer patients," says principal investigator Dr. Quintin Pan, associate professor of otolaryngology at the OSUCCC - James. The study was published in the journal Oncogene. The research, which mainly used head and neck cancer cells, shows that a protein produced by the virus blocks a protein made by the host cell. The cell protein, called p300, regulates a gene called p53. This gene both controls cell division and protects the body against cancer by causing cells to die before they become malignant. By blocking the cell protein, HPV forces the host cell to live instead of die and to proliferate and form tumors. The prospective new drug, called [...]

Charlotte Parker2013-05-09T16:09:59-07:00May, 2013|Oral Cancer News|

Nearly 6 Percent Of Lung Cancer Tissue Samples From Non-Smokers Show Signs That HPV May Have Triggered The Tumors

Article Date: 12 Apr 2013 - 1:00 PDT Source: Medical News Today A common virus known to cause cervical and head and neck cancers may also trigger some cases of lung cancer, according to new research presented by Fox Chase Cancer Center at the AACR Annual Meeting 2013. Examining tissue samples from lung cancer patients, the researchers found that nearly 6% showed signs they may have been driven by a strain of human papillomavirus (HPV) known to cause cancer. If HPV indeed plays a role in lung cancer in some patients, the next step is to better understand those tumors so they can be treated more effectively. "The ultimate goal," says study author Ranee Mehra, MD, attending physician in medical oncology at Fox Chase, "is to determine if we can target our therapies to the specific characteristics of these tumors." Studies from Asia have shown that lung tumors are frequently infected with HPV. The pattern makes sense, explains Mehra - the lungs are located very near the head and neck, which are known to be at risk of tumors upon exposure to some strains of HPV. To investigate, she and her colleagues examined 36 tissue samples from people diagnosed with non-small cell lung cancer who had never smoked, part of the Fox Chase Cancer Center Biosample Repository. The reason they chose non-smokers, Mehra explains, is that smoking is a major cause of lung cancer - but in non-smokers, the explanation is often less obvious. The researchers found that 4 out [...]

Charlotte Parker2013-05-09T15:55:12-07:00May, 2013|Oral Cancer News|