Oral Cancer News – Page 156

Vitamin B veggies cut risk of mouth cancer

Source: www.dentistry.co.uk Author: staff Women who consume high volumes of folic acid found in vitamin B from vegetables and some fruits are less likely to suffer from mouth cancer. A sample of 87,000 nurses were followed for 30 years from 1976 by researchers from the Columbia University Medical Centre and Harvard School of Public Health. Women who drank a high volume of alcohol and had low folic acid intake were three times more likely to develop mouth cancer than those who drank high volumes of alcohol but had high volumes of folic acid in their diet. Alcohol is one of the major risk factors for mouth cancer and those who drink to excess are four times more likely to be diagnosed. This is the first time that folic acid intake has been shown to affect the risk of the disease. Alcohol leads to a reduction in folic acid metabolism by creating acetaldehyde which leads to a reduction of folic acid in the body. Chief executive of the British Dental Health Foundation, Dr Nigel Carter, said: 'Rates of mouth cancer in women have been increasing for many years as a result of changed social habits with more women smoking and drinking. 'This new research could offer a method to reduce this by looking at the folic acid intake and increasing fruit and vegetables containing folic acid in the diet. “In the past studies have tended to focus on males, as they are twice as likely to suffer from the disease. While [...]

Oral Cancer Foundation News Team - A2012-05-20T17:52:11-07:00May, 2012|Oral Cancer News|

Oral sex may cause more oral cancer than smoking in men, researchers say

Source: www.bloomberg.com Author: Robert Langreth A virus spread by oral sex may cause more cases of throat cancer in men than smoking, a finding that spurred calls for a new large-scale test of a drug used against the infection. Researchers examined 271 throat-tumor samples collected over 20 years ending in 2004 and found that the percentage of oral cancer linked to the human papillomavirus, or HPV, surged to 72 percent from about 16 percent, according to a report released yesterday in the Journal of Clinical Oncology. By 2020, the virus-linked throat tumors -- which mostly affected men -- will become more common than HPV-caused cervical cancer, the report found. HPV is known for infecting genitals. The finding that it can spread to the throat and cause cancer may increase pressure on Merck & Co., the second-largest U.S. drugmaker, to conduct large-scale trials to see if its vaccine Gardasil, which wards off cervical cancer in women, also prevents HPV throat infections. “The burden of cancer caused by HPV is going to shift from women to men in this decade,” Maura Gillison, an oncologist at Ohio State University and study senior author, said in a telephone interview. “What we believe is happening is that the number of sexual partners and exposure to HPV has risen over that same time period.” Gillison said she worked with researchers at Whitehouse Station, New Jersey-based Merck several years ago to design a study in men. After Merck acquired Schering-Plough Corp. in 2009, though, the trial “was canceled,” [...]

Oral Cancer Foundation News Team - A2012-05-20T20:54:05-07:00May, 2012|Oral Cancer News|

Big Tobacco Spending More Than a Super PAC to Defeat Cancer Research

Source: Livestrong.org My job requires me to be online all day keeping an ear to the ground on major issues related to cancer. I knew the Prop 29 fight in California was going to be fought against Big Tobacco, but I didn’t realize the scale of their funding machine. Why are LIVESTRONG, American Cancer Society, Campaign for Tobacco Free Kids, American Heart Association, American Lung Association and many other health organizations for this proposition? Because it keeps kids from smoking, funds much needed cancer research and prevention programs. So it won’t surprise you that Big Tobacco is the driving force against the cancer research prop. Although it is not surprising, the amount of money they are pumping into California is unreal. To date, Big Tobacco has funneled 40 million dollars into their anti cancer research initiative compared to Yes on 29 Coalition’s 8 million raised. What I find most telling is when it comes to where these funds are from. Check out this visualization from MapLight.org – a nonprofit, nonpartisan research organization that reveals money’s influence on politics. This news story was resourced by the Oral Cancer Foundation, and vetted for appropriateness and accuracy.

Charlotte Parker2012-05-17T09:52:34-07:00May, 2012|Oral Cancer News|

Actor’s Diagnosis Puts Spotlight on Oral Cancer

Source: DrBicuspid.com May 9, 2012 -- Actor Michael Douglas' recent revelation that he has stage IV oropharyngeal cancer has highlighted the growing incidence of oral cancer, and experts say dentists can help stem the alarming increase of the disease by checking for it during routine examinations. The actor's cancer includes a walnut-sized tumor at the base of his tongue, and he will require radiation therapy, chemotherapy, and surgery. Douglas says his doctors told him he has an 80% survival rate if it hasn't spread to his lymph nodes. While tobacco was the prime cause of oral cancer in the past, recent studies have attributed the steady increase of the disease to the human papillomavirus (HPV). There are approximately 130 versions of HPV but only nine cause cancers, and the HPV16 version causes almost half of the oral cancers in the U.S., said Brian Hill, executive director of the Oral Cancer Foundation. "Tobacco is no longer the only bad guy," he told DrBicuspid.com. “HPV16 is increasing in incidence as the causative etiology, and if it continues on this trend line, it will replace tobacco as the primary cause of oral cancers." Dentists can play a key role in catching the disease in its early stages if they check for it during examinations, Hill pointed out. "But many dentists think it's such a rare disease that they don't bother to screen for it," he said. "Most Americans have never even heard of oral cancer, but it's not as rare or uncommon as [...]

Charlotte Parker2012-05-17T09:43:19-07:00May, 2012|Oral Cancer News|

Actor Michael Douglas Partners With Oral Cancer Foundation For Early Detection PSA Campaign

LOS ANGELES, May 14, 2012 /PRNewswire-USNewswire/ -- Actor and producer Michael Douglas has donated his time to help create a television public service announcement (PSA) on behalf of the Oral Cancer Foundation (OCF), a non-profit organization dedicated to helping those affected by the disease. The PSA will support the Foundation's efforts to educate the public about the need for annual screenings to catch oral cancers in their early, most survivable stages. The public service announcement will begin airing in June, and will continue to air nationwide through summer and autumn. Approximately 40,000 people in the US will be newly diagnosed with oral cancer in 2012. This includes those cancers that occur in the mouth itself, in the very back of the mouth known as the oropharynx, and on the exterior lip of the mouth. There are two distinct pathways by which most people come to oral cancer. One is through the use of tobacco and alcohol, and the other is through exposure to the HPV-16 virus (human papilloma virus version 16), a newly identified etiology, and the same virus which is responsible for the vast majority of cervical cancers in women. While oral cancer has historically been linked to tobacco and alcohol use, this is not simply a smoker's disease any longer. New data shows that the fastest-growing segment of newly diagnosed cases is now young, non-smokers. Most startling, is the fact that while many other cancers have been in decline in recent years, the occurrence of oral / oropharyngeal [...]

Charlotte Parker2012-05-14T19:59:49-07:00May, 2012|OCF In The News, Oral Cancer News|

2009 Federal Tobacco Tax Increase Cut Number of Youth Smokers by At Least 220,000 in First Two Months Alone, New Study Shows

Source: TobaccoFreeKids.org WASHINGTON, DC – The large federal tobacco tax increase implemented on April 1, 2009, reduced the number of youth smokers by at least 220,000 and the number of youth smokeless tobacco users by at least 135,000 in the first two months alone, according to a new study released today by researchers at the University of Illinois at Chicago. The researchers emphasized that the study measured only the immediate impact of the tax increase through May 2009, and the number of youth prevented from smoking and using smokeless tobacco would be much larger over time. The study "showed that a large national tax increase can influence youth tobacco use prevalence within a very short time period," the researchers wrote. "Adolescents not only respond to tax policy changes, but the speed of their response is fast. The prevalence of smoking and use of smokeless tobacco… dropped immediately following the tax increase in this study, and statistically significant and meaningful changes could be measured and detected within 30 days of the tax increase." The study was published online by the National Bureau of Economic Research and can be found at: http://www.nber.org/papers/w18026. The new study comes as the tobacco industry, led by Philip Morris USA and R.J. Reynolds, is spending nearly $40 million to oppose a June 5 ballot initiative in California (Proposition 29) to increase that state’s cigarette tax by $1 per pack. The initiative would reduce smoking and fund research on cancer and other tobacco-related diseases, as well as tobacco [...]

Charlotte Parker2012-05-11T10:58:27-07:00May, 2012|Oral Cancer News|

Radiotherapy May Be Enough for HPV-Positive Throat Cancer

Source: Medscape Today May 11, 2012 (Barcelona, Spain) — Radiotherapy alone might be just as effective as more toxic regimens in the treatment of light smokers or nonsmokers with human papillomavirus (HPV)-positive advanced oropharyngeal carcinomas, according to research presented here at ESTRO 31: European Society for Radiotherapy and Oncology 2012 Annual Conference. "Moderately accelerated radiotherapy as a single modality may be a safe and presumably morbidity-sparing treatment strategy for these patients," said Pernille Lassen, MD, a resident in medical and radiation oncology at Aarhus University Hospital in Denmark. "What we are suggesting — knowing that it's not randomized and knowing that it's not a very large series — is that perhaps we don't need to treat these patients with chemotherapy and all the other things that we do," she told Medscape Medical News. We're "not recommending one treatment over another; this is a contribution to the ongoing debate. But [we're] showing that we really cure a lot of patients with radiotherapy alone in this select group of nonsmokers or light smokers and HPV positivity." The researchers examined 181 patients from the Danish Head and Neck Cancer Group (DAHANCA) database who had advanced oropharyngeal cancer that had metastasized to the lymph nodes or beyond (stage III and IV). Cumulative smoking history was categorized as greater than or less than 10 pack-years (1 pack-year is equivalent to 20 cigarettes per day for 1 year), and pretreatment tumor immunohistochemistry was assessed on the basis of HPV-associated p16 expression (positive or negative). "p16 expression is a striking [...]

Charlotte Parker2012-05-11T10:55:04-07:00May, 2012|Oral Cancer News|

Stem cell sparing radiotherapy for head and neck cancer may avoid salivary gland damage

Source: European Society for Radiotherapy and Oncology (ESTRO) Barcelona, Spain: Researchers believe they may have found a way to avoid damaging salivary glands during radiotherapy treatment for head and neck cancer – a discovery that could improve the quality of life of 500,000 patients a year worldwide with the disease. Presenting their findings to the 31st conference of the European Society for Radiotherapy and Oncology (ESTRO31) [1], the researchers said that they had discovered that the stem cells essential for regenerating the parotid gland (the largest pair of salivary glands) were located mainly in its major ducts, and that these could easily be avoided during radiotherapy or given a minimal radiation dose. "This would significantly reduce complications arising from radiotherapy for head and neck cancer," said Dr Peter van Luijk, a research associate at the University Medical Center Groningen, The Netherlands. Around 40% of patients treated for head and neck cancer suffer from the distressing side-effects of dry mouth syndrome – a condition that can occur when the parotid gland stops working properly after radiation damage. This causes problems with eating, sleeping, speech, tooth loss and oral hygiene, leading to diminished quality of life, social isolation and difficulty in continuing work. Attempts to treat dry mouth syndrome and its consequences can cost hundreds or even thousands of Euros per patient per year and are mostly insufficient. Dr van Luijk said: "Parotid gland dysfunction after radiotherapy for head and neck cancer was, and still is, a major clinical problem. During radiotherapy, attempts [...]

Charlotte Parker2012-05-10T09:41:29-07:00May, 2012|Oral Cancer News|

1 of 6 cancer deaths worldwide caused by preventable infections

Source: Los Angeles Times One in every six cancer deaths worldwide is caused by preventable infections, a total of 1.5 million deaths yearly that could be halted by widespread vaccination programs, researchers reported Wednesday. Since 1990, that number has grown by about half a million, suggesting that vaccination programs are losing ground in the battle rather than gaining it. The vast majority of the cases are caused by three viruses and a bacterium, which are the leading causes of gastric, liver and cervical cancers. Cervical cancers account for about half of the infection-related cancers in women, while liver and gastric cancers account for about 80% of those in men. The causes of many cancers are largely unknown, but genetics and poor luck play big roles. The World Health Organization estimated in 2004 that nine lifestyle and environmental factors -- smoking being a particularly large one -- account for as many as 35% of the 12.7 million cancers that occur each year, about twice the proportion now linked to infections. Cervical cancers are caused primarily by the human papilloma virus (HPV), as are anal and penile tumors. Stomach cancers are caused by the bacterium Helicobacter pylori. The hepatitis B and hepatitis C viruses cause liver cancer. All such infections are readily preventable by vaccination. Other less common agents include the Epstein-Barr virus, which causes nasopharynx tumors and Hodgkin's lymphoma; human herpes virus type 8, which causes Kaposi's sarcoma, usually in conjunction with HIV; and the parasite Schistosoma haematobium, which causes bladder [...]

Charlotte Parker2012-05-09T13:43:12-07:00May, 2012|Oral Cancer News|

Vaccination rates higher in states requiring them in middle school

Source: LA Times States that require vaccination for pertussis, meningitis and tetanus for admission to middle school have a higher vaccination rate than states that do not, but the rate is not nearly as high as one might expect from such a requirement, researchers reported Monday. States that required only that educational materials be sent home for those vaccines and the human papilloma virus (HPV) vaccine showed no improvement in vaccination rates. Vaccines for tetanus and pertussis are typically given during childhood, but the effects can diminish over time and a booster shot is recommended in early adolescence. The meningitis and HPV vaccines typically are given in adolescence. Concern has been spreading about low vaccination rates because of recent outbreaks of pertussis, commonly called whooping cough, in California and Washington. Some parents refuse to have their children vaccinated because of groundless fears about vaccine side effects -- particularly the now-refuted link to autism -- but others simply find that it is easier to express "philosophical opposition" to the vaccines rather than take their children for the shots. But these unvaccinated children serve as a natural reservoir for the diseases, enhancing their spread, particularly to those who are too old or immune-impaired to receive the vaccines themselves. Thirty-two states required middle school vaccination with either the tetanus/diptheria (Td) vaccine or the tetanus/diptheria/acellular pertussis (TdaP) vaccine when the survey was performed in 2008-09. Fourteen of those specifically required the TdaP vaccine. None required that educational materials about those vaccines be sent home. [...]

Charlotte Parker2012-05-08T16:49:50-07:00May, 2012|Oral Cancer News|