Oral Cancer News

Third Head and Neck Indication for Erbitux

Source: The ASCO Post, January 1, 2012, Volume 3, Issue 1, Matthew Stenger In the Clinic provides overviews of novel oncology agents, addressing indications, mechanisms, administration recommendations, safety profiles, and other essential information needed for the appropriate clinical use of these drugs.Cetuximab (Erbitux) was recently approved by the FDA for use in combination with platinum-based therapy plus fluorouracil (5-FU) for the first-line treatment of patients with recurrent locoregional disease or metastatic squamous cell carcinoma of the head and neck.1-3 Cetuximab has prior indications in combination with radiation therapy in locally or regionally advanced squamous cell head and neck cancer and in recurrent or metastatic head and neck cancer that has progressed after platinum-based therapy. It also has indications in colorectal cancer. The most recent approval is based primarily on results of a study conducted outside the United States in 442 patients with metastatic or locally recurrent squamous cell carcinoma of the head and neck who were not suitable for curative treatment with surgery or radiation. The study used a European Union (EU)-approved cetuximab rather than the U.S.-approved cetuximab (Erbitux). Erbitux provides approximately 22% higher exposure than the EU-approved cetuximab; these pharmacokinetic data, together with the results of the study conducted in Europe and other data using Erbitux establish the safety and efficacy of Erbitux at the recommended dose.In this trial, the addition of cetuximab (n = 222) to platinum-based therapy plus 5-FU (n = 220) significantly increased median overall survival from 7.4 to 10.1 months, representing a 20% reduction in risk of death [...]

Oral Cancer Foundation News Team - A2012-01-07T17:15:00-07:00January, 2012|Oral Cancer News|

Tongue and tonsil cancer patients surviving longer

Source: Dr.Biscuspid.com The five-year survival rate for U.S. patients with cancer of the base of the tongue or tonsils doubled between 1980 and 2002, according to a new study in Cancer Causes & Control (January 2012, Vol. 23:1, pp. 153-164). In addition, patients with human papillomavirus (HPV)-related cancers had greater survival rates than those with other oral cancers, and survival was greater for male patients than females regardless of age, according to the study authors, from the New York Eye and Ear Infirmary, the University of Utah School of Medicine, and the University of California, Los Angeles School of Public Health. However, patients with subsequent multiple cancers showed no overall survival improvement. The incidence rates of tongue and tonsil cancers have increased significantly in recent decades in the U.S., particularly among younger patients, the researchers noted. At the same time, a number of studies have shown a strong association between HPV infection and tongue and tonsil cancers. For this study, they used data from the Surveillance, Epidemiology, and End Results (SEER) 1973-2006 registry system to examine changes in survival rates among patients with base of tongue, tonsil, and other tongue cancers in recent decades. The study included 10,704 patients with squamous tongue or tonsil cancer who were at least 20 years old. The researchers separated the patients into those with one primary cancer and those with subsequent multiple cancers, then compared trends using three nonoverlapped periods: 1980-1982, 1990-1992, and 2000-2002. The first group included those with only one primary base of tongue, [...]

Oral Cancer Foundation News Team - A2012-01-04T15:27:37-07:00January, 2012|Oral Cancer News|

Success of HPV vaccination is now a matter of coverage

Source: The Lancet Oncology, Volume 13, Issue 1, Pages 10-12, January 2012 In a pair of articles in The Lancet Oncology, Lehtinen and colleagues and Wheeler and colleagues present 4-year end of study data from a trial of a prophylactic human papillomavirus (HPV)-16/-18 vaccine (Cervarix, GlaxoSmithKline) in young women aged 15-25 years. From a public-health perspective, these studies have several important contributions. The results assure us that among HPV-naive women in the 15—25 year age range, Cervarix has extremely high efficacy against HPV-16/-18-associated persistent infection, CIN2, and CIN3 or worse, the best ethical surrogate endpoint for prospective studies of invasive cervical cancer risk. Combined with other trials of Cervarix and Merck's quadrivalent Gardasil vaccine against HPV-16/-18/-6/-11,3 the evidence is strong for near 100% prophylactic vaccine efficacy in HPV-naive women at any age. Nonetheless, even with vaccine efficacy near 100% in HPV-naive women, the efficacy in the total vaccinated cohort decreased steeply with increasing age, showing an absence of therapeutic effect against already-acquired infections and associated lesions. We know from natural history studies that new HPV transmission (incidence, not prevalence) decreases with age in most cultures.4 Together, natural history data and results of trials for both vaccines suggest that vaccination before sexual debut, or around the time of menarche, will achieve the greatest reduction in cervical cancer rates. The 4-year trial data shows no decline in vaccine efficacy in HPV-naive women with time since vaccination.1 We know from other trials of the two vaccines that the duration of protection is several [...]

Oral Cancer Foundation News Team - A2012-01-05T16:54:57-07:00January, 2012|Oral Cancer News|

Preventing Cancer with Vaccines: Progress in the Global Control of Cancer

Source: CancerPreventionResearch.AACJournals.org Abstract The cancer control community is largely unaware of great advances in the control of major human cancers with vaccines, including the dramatic control of hepatocellular (liver) cancer with hepatitis B virus (HBV) vaccine, now used routinely in more than 90% of countries. The biotechnology revolution has given us a new generation of highly effective vaccines against major global killers, global funding for immunization is orders of magnitude higher than ever before, and the vaccine delivery infrastructure has improved very significantly even in the poorest countries. Liver cancer is the greatest cause of cancer deaths in men of sub-Saharan Africa and much of Asia. Even in highly endemic countries such as China, the prevalence of HB surface antigen carriers has fallen from 10% to 1%–2% in immunized cohorts of children, and liver cancer has already fallen dramatically in Taiwanese children. The Global Alliance for Vaccines and Immunization (now called the GAVI Alliance) has greatly expedited this success by providing HBV vaccine free for five years in most of the world's 72 poorest countries. HBV vaccination can serve as a model for the global control of human papillomavirus (HPV)–related cervical and other cancers with HPV vaccines. Cervical cancer is the greatest cause of cancer death in women in many developing countries; HPV vaccines are highly effective in preventing HPV infection and precancerous lesions in women, and the quadrivalent vaccine also prevents genital warts in men and women and precancerous anal lesions in men. HPV is causing a growing proportion [...]

Oral Cancer Foundation News Team - A2012-01-04T10:18:40-07:00January, 2012|Oral Cancer News|

If teeth could talk…

Source: wsj.com Author: Melinda Beck The eyes may be the window to the soul, but the mouth provides an even better view of the body as a whole. Some of the earliest signs of diabetes, cancer, pregnancy, immune disorders, hormone imbalances and drug issues show up in the gums, teeth and tongue -- sometimes long before a patient knows anything is wrong. There is also growing evidence that oral health problems, particularly gum disease, can harm a patient's general health as well, raising the risk of diabetes, heart disease, stroke, pneumonia and pregnancy complications. "We have lots of data showing a direct correlation between inflammation in the mouth and inflammation in the body," said Anthony Iacopino, director of the International Centre for Oral-Systemic Health, which opened at the University of Manitoba Faculty of Dentistry in Canada in 2008. Recent studies also show that treating gum disease improves circulation, reduces inflammation and can even reduce the need for insulin in people with diabetes. Such findings are fueling a push for dentists to play a greater role in patients' overall health. Some 20 million Americans -- including six percent of children and nine percent of adults -- saw a dentist but not a doctor in 2008, according to a study in the American Journal of Public Health this month. "It's an opportunity to tell a patient, 'You know, I'm concerned. I think you really need to see a primary care provider,' so you are moving in the direction of better health," said [...]

Oral Cancer Foundation News Team - A2012-01-02T06:53:06-07:00January, 2012|Oral Cancer News|

Roche scientist provides a look at drugmaker’s early pipeline

Source: www.nj.com/ Author: Susan Todd/The Star-Ledger Jean-Jacques Garaud, who heads Roche’s pharmaceutical research and early development efforts in Switzerland, visited the drugmaker’s Nutley campus in mid-December and spent some time speaking with The Star-Ledger about the company’s efforts in the laboratory. The talk with Garaud provided a rare glimpse of the giant Swiss drugmaker’s early-stage pipeline and highlighted the heavy bets it’s making on personalized medicine (drugs that are tailored to treat individuals whose genes or enzymes show specific biological signs of disease). If the strategy succeeds, Roche could eventually push out some breakthrough drugs for cancer, Alzheimer’s disease and depression. Garaud, a French-American who joined Roche five years ago, also opened up about a discovery made in Nutley that may represent a novel cancer treatment and the high hopes behind a project with the promise of altering the lives of individuals born with a syndrome that causes mental retardation. During the interview, Garaud talked about some medicines so early in development that they are still referred to by strange-sounding laboratory names. Q. Where do things stand with gantenerumab, the monoclonal antibody Roche is developing as a treatment for Alzheimer’s disease? A. This is in phase 2 and this is testing a patient population in the early stages of the disease or suffering from mild cognitive impairment. We believe this particular type of intervention may be more beneficial when it happens early in the disease so that it delays progression. This antibody targets the abnormal material called amyloid that deposits [...]

Oral Cancer Foundation News Team - A2012-01-02T06:41:44-07:00January, 2012|Oral Cancer News|

Review Finds Evidence Lacking for Dry Mouth Remedies

Source: Medscape Today December 28, 2011 — There is not enough evidence to recommend any topical therapies for dry mouth, but that does not mean that they do not work, according to investigators who published a review of research on the therapies online December 4 in the Cochrane Library. "There was very little evidence," said Helen Worthington, PhD, a professor of evidence-based care at the University of Manchester, United Kingdom. Dr. Worthington and colleagues scoured the literature for randomized controlled trials of topical therapies for dry mouth, or xerostomia. They found 36 studies of treatments such as lozenges, sprays, mouth rinses, gels, oils, chewing gum, and toothpaste. Xerostomia often results from treatments for head and neck cancer that damage the salivary glands, as well as from Sjögren's syndrome, an autoimmune disorder that also damages these glands. It is also a common adverse effect of many medications. The authors cite an estimated prevalence of dry mouth of about 20% in the general population. This percentage may be increasing because people are living longer and suffering from more chronic illnesses for which the treatments can have xerostomia as an adverse effect. It is possible to feel the sensation of dry mouth without having a clinically reduced saliva flow, the researchers point out. The treatments in the review broke down into 2 broad categories: saliva substitutes, in which some other substance is intended to perform the role of the patient's own saliva, and saliva stimulants, which are intended to activate the patient's own [...]

Oral Cancer Foundation News Team - A2011-12-28T15:56:36-07:00December, 2011|Oral Cancer News|

U.S. Government rolls out new teen anti-smoking program

Source:EmaxHealth.com As 2012 draws nigh, many smokers will make yet another resolution to quit smoking. However, in a matter of days or weeks, many of them will be puffing away. Many of these smokers have damaged their health from the habit with ailments including chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD), lung cancer, and throat cancer. One group of smokers is not yet afflicted with those ailments and would benefit the most from quitting: teen smokers. Unfortunately, however, research suggests most of those teens will keep smoking and some light smokers will become heavy smokers. According to current estimates, 19% of U.S. teens are smokers by the 12th grade. To address this issue, the National Cancer Institute (NCI) is introducing a new smoking-cessation program focused on teens. At present, a Website has been developed (teen.smokefree.gov) and texting support is available. In January 2012, the NCI will add a smartphone application. The program joins others with the same aim: Helping teen smokers quit before they become chronic adult smokers. For example, on September 1, Secretary of Health and Human Services Kathleen Sebelius published an opinion in the Washington Post in which she pointed out the national problem of teen smoking. A new study by the National Institutes of Health (NIH), released on December 14, reported that smoking had declined among U.S. teens. Countering that bit of good news was that one out of every 15 high school students smoked marijuana on a regular basis. Smoked marijuana and smoked tobacco are chemically very similar; [...]

Oral Cancer Foundation News Team - A2011-12-28T10:53:32-07:00December, 2011|Oral Cancer News|

Distant Metastases in Head-and-Neck Squamous Cell Carcinoma Treated with Intensity-modulated Radiotherapy

Source: International Journal of Radiation Oncology, Biology and Physics (IJROBP Online) December 2011 PURPOSE: To determine the pattern and risk factors for distant metastases in head-and-neck squamous cell carcinoma (HNSCC) after curative treatment with intensity-modulated radiotherapy (IMRT). METHODS AND MATERIALS: This was a retrospective study of 284 HNSCC patients treated in a single institution with IMRT. Sites included were oropharynx (125), oral cavity (70), larynx (55), hypopharynx (17), and unknown primary (17). American Joint Committee on Cancer stage distribution includes I (3), II (19), III (42), and IV (203). There were 224 males and 60 females with a median age of 57. One hundred eighty-six patients were treated with definitive IMRT and 98 postoperative IMRT. One hundred forty-nine patients also received concurrent cisplatin-based chemotherapy. RESULTS: The median follow-up for all patients was 22.8 months (range, 0.07-77.3 months) and 29.5 months (4.23-77.3 months) for living patients. The 3-year local recurrence-free survival, regional recurrence-free survival, locoregional recurrence-free survival, distant metastasis-free survival, and overall survival were 94.6%, 96.4%, 92.5%, 84.1%, and 68.95%, respectively. There were 45 patients with distant metastasis. In multivariate analysis, distant metastasis was strongly associated with N stage (p = 0.046), T stage (p<0.0001), and pretreatment maximum standardized uptake value of the lymph node (p = 0.006), but not associated with age, gender, disease sites, pretreatment standardized uptake value of the primary tumor, or locoregional control. The freedom from distant metastasis at 3 years was 98.1% for no factors, 88.6% for one factor, 68.3% for two factors, and 41.7% for three factors (p <0.0001 by log-rank [...]

Oral Cancer Foundation News Team - A2011-12-27T12:48:17-07:00December, 2011|Oral Cancer News|

Researchers ID virus that causes salivary gland cancer

Source: DrBicuspid.com Cytomegalovirus (CMV) has been confirmed as a cause of the most common salivary gland cancers (Experimental and Molecular Pathology, November 10, 2011). CMV joins a group of fewer than 10 identified oncoviruses -- cancer-causing viruses -- including HPV. The findings are the latest in a series of studies by researchers from the Laboratory for Developmental Genetics at the University of Southern California (USC) that together demonstrate CMV's role as an oncovirus, a virus that can either trigger cancer in healthy cells or exploit mutant cell weaknesses to enhance tumor formation. The conclusion that CMV is an oncovirus came after rigorous study of both human salivary gland tumors and salivary glands of postnatal mice, according to lead author Michael Melnick, DDS, PhD, a professor of developmental genetics in the Ostrow School of Dentistry at USC and co-director of the developmental genetics lab. This study illustrates that the CMV in the tumors is active and also that the amount of virus-created proteins found is positively correlated with the severity of the cancer, Melnick said. After salivary glands obtained from newborn mice were exposed to purified CMV, cancer developed. In addition, efforts to stop the cancer's progression identified how the virus was acting upon the cells to spark the disease. The researchers also identified a specific molecular signaling pathway exploited by the virus to create tumors. With the new information about CMV's connection to cancer comes hope for new prevention and treatment methods, Dr. Melnick noted. This news story was resourced [...]

Oral Cancer Foundation News Team - A2011-12-27T11:54:52-07:00December, 2011|Oral Cancer News|