Oral Cancer News

Cervarix® vaccination against HPV lasts at least six years

Source: professional.cancerconsultants.com Author: staff Researchers affiliated with the GlaxoSmithKline Vaccine HPV-007 Study Group have reported that Cervarix® [human papillomavirus (HPV)-16/18 AS04-adjuvanted vaccine] has “high and sustained immunogenicity, and a favorable safety” profile for up to 6.4 years following administration. The details of this study appeared in an early online publication in the Lancet on December 3, 2009.[1] Cervarix is approved by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration for the prevention of cervical pre-cancers and cervical cancer associated with HPV types 16 and 18. It is approved for use in girls and women between the ages of 10 and 25 years. Human papillomaviruses consist of more than 100 different viruses. Some types of HPV cause warts on the hands or feet; others cause genital warts; and some have been linked with cancer, most notably cervical cancer. The types of HPV most commonly linked with cervical cancer are HPV 16 and HPV 18, but several other high-risk types contribute to cancer as well. The types of HPV that cause cervical cancer or genital warts are transmitted sexually. HPV infection is extremely common and generally occurs soon after an individual becomes sexually active. Although most infections resolve on their own, some persist and can lead to precancerous or cancerous changes to the cervix, vulva, vagina, penis, and anus. HPV infections have also been linked with some head and neck cancers. The first HPV vaccine to be approved in the United States was Gardasil®, which protects against HPV types 6 and 11 (linked to [...]

Oral Cancer Foundation News Team - A2009-12-07T16:52:12-07:00December, 2009|Oral Cancer News|

Drinking epidemic ‘fuels surge in cancer’

Source: www.dailymail.co.uk/health Author: Jenny Hope Round-the-clock drinking and cut-price alcohol are to blame for an 'appalling' rise in cancers, experts warned today. Cases of cancer of the mouth have gone up by half in the past decade, with a 43 per cent rise in liver tumours. There have also been big rises in breast and colorectal cancer. Many experts are blaming alcohol consumption, which has doubled in the UK since the 1950s and has been fuelled by Labour's decision to relax licensing laws. They are calling for tougher measures to crack down on 2 for 1 offers and price-cutting by supermarkets, as well as the current 24-hour drinking culture. The latest official figures, obtained from parliamentary questions by the Liberal Democrats, show almost 5,000 in England are diagnosed each year with oral cancers - a 53 per cent increase on 3,225 cases in 1997. There was a 20 per cent jump in cancer of the gullet (oesophagus) from 5,397 to 6,487. Both types of cancer are linked to heavy drinking, with a fourfold rise in risk for men consuming more than seven drinks a day and women having five drinks or more a day. Liver cancer cases went up over the same period from 1,925 to 2,754 - with this cancer two and half times more likely to affect heavy drinkers compared with people who do not drink. Female breast cancer cases rose 33 per cent from 28,618 to 38,048. Heavy drinkers run a 60 per cent extra chance of [...]

Oral Cancer Foundation News Team - A2009-12-07T15:11:03-07:00December, 2009|Oral Cancer News|

Evaluation of in vitro assays for assessing the toxicity of cigarette smoke and smokeless tobacco

Source: aacrjournals Author: Staff Requests for reprints:Peter G. Shields, Lombardi Comprehensive Cancer Center, Georgetown University Medical Center, 3800 Reservoir Road Northwest, LL (S) Level, Room 150, Washington, DC 20057-1465. Phone: 202-687-0003. E-mail: [email protected] Abstract Background: In vitro toxicology studies of tobacco and tobacco smoke have been used to understand why tobacco use causes cancer and to assess the toxicologic impact of tobacco product design changes. The need for toxicology studies has been heightened given the Food and Drug Administration's newly granted authority over tobacco products for mandating tobacco product performance standards and evaluate manufacturers' health claims about modified tobacco products. The goal of this review is to critically evaluate in vitro toxicology methods related to cancer for assessing tobacco products and to identify related research gaps. Methods: PubMed database searches were used to identify tobacco-related in vitrotoxicology studies published since 1980. Articles published before 1980 with high relevance also were identified. The data were compiled to examine (a) the goals of the study, (b) the methods for collecting test substances, (c) experimental designs, (d) toxicologic end points, and (e) relevance to cancer risk. Results: A variety of in vitro assays are available to assess tobacco smoke that address different modes of action, mostly using non–human cell models. However, smokeless tobacco products perform poorly in these assays. Although reliable as a screening tool for qualitative assessments, the available in vitro assays have been poorly validated for quantitative comparisons of different tobacco products. Assay batteries have not been developed, although they exist for nontobacco assessments. Extrapolating data from in [...]

Charlotte Parker2009-12-07T15:03:33-07:00December, 2009|Oral Cancer News|

Maker of Camels buys cigarette replacement seller

Source: townhall.com Author: staff Cigarette maker Reynolds American Inc. has reached a deal to acquire a Swedish company whose nicotine gum, pouches and spray help people stop smoking, the second-largest U.S. tobacco company said Wednesday. The acquisition will let Reynolds offer products that can "reduce the risks of diseases and death caused by tobacco use," CEO Susan M. Ivey said in a statement. Niconovum AB's products are sold outside the U.S. under the Zonnic brand. They could help the maker of Camel cigarettes and Grizzly smokeless tobacco keep growing as tax increases, health concerns, smoking bans and social stigma cut into demand for cigarettes. The deal, which Reynolds expects to conclude by the end of the year, would be worth about $44 million. The Associated Press reported last month that the companies were in talks. Karl Olov Fagerstrom, an expert on smoking cessation and nicotine dependence, formed Niconovum in 2000, according to its Web site. Reynolds, which is based in Winston-Salem, N.C., said it will fund product development and testing required for Niconovum to enter markets outside of Sweden and Denmark. It intends to keep Niconovum's headquarters in Sweden and retain its leaders. Under the Camel brand, Reynolds has introduced moist smokeless tobacco and snus _ small pouches like tea bags that users stick between the cheek and gum. Reynolds also has introduced dissolving tobacco _ finely milled tobacco shaped into orbs, sticks and strips _ in test markets.

Oral Cancer Foundation News Team - A2009-12-04T05:07:29-07:00December, 2009|Oral Cancer News|

Papillomavirus silences innate immune response

Source: www.sciencedaily.com Author: staff In the 1980s, Harald zur Hausen and his co-workers discovered that specific types of human papillomavirus (HPV) cause cervical cancer. Scientists soon found out how these pathogens cause cells to degenerate. It is known today that the main culprits are viral proteins E6 and E7. Both proteins switch off different cellular control functions, thus promoting cell growth. Professor Dr. Frank Rösl and his co-workers at DKFZ have now discovered another mechanism by which the E6 oncoprotein of high-risk HPV16 promotes carcinogenesis. The oncogene silences production of an immune protein called interferon-kappa. Interferons are proteins which are part of our immune system and are responsible primarily for stimulating the immune response to viruses and tumors. Interferons are produced by white blood cells and other cell types. Interferon-kappa is relevant for HPV infections, because it is produced mainly in cells of the skin and mucosa (keratinocytes) which are the preferred hosts of the viruses. If interferon-kappa is not working in cells, other proteins involved in immune defense also cease to function properly. Dr. Bladimiro Rincon-Orozco of Rösl's team has now shown for the first time that HPV16 switches off the interferon-kappa gene by biochemical modification of DNA. Such alterations of the genetic material are called epigenetic mutations. Studying HPV infected cells in a culture dish, the research team observed that interferon-kappa is epigenetically silenced. They were later able to confirm this result in cervical cancer tissue samples. "Interferon-kappa is an important part of what is called [...]

Oral Cancer Foundation News Team - A2009-12-03T18:05:10-07:00December, 2009|Oral Cancer News|

Q&A: treating larynx cancer with chemotherapy alone

Source: www2.mdanderson.org/cancerwise Author: Cancerwise Blogger In certain cases, cancer of the larynx (voicebox) can be treated successfully with chemotherapy alone, according to a recent study at M. D. Anderson. Chris Holsinger, M.D., assistant professor in the Department of Head and Neck Surgery, was co-author of the study, which is the first of its kind in the United States. He answers questions about this groundbreaking research that may provide hope for some patients. How has the treatment for larynx cancer evolved over the past few decades? Thirty years ago, the only option for cancer of the larynx, also called laryngeal cancer was surgical removal of part of the larynx. In the 1970s, treatment moved away from surgery and more toward radiation. Then we began to combine radiation and chemotherapy. What are some of the disadvantages of treating cancer of the larynx with radiation? Radiation can have side effects, especially long-term toxicity. In many patients, the cancer returns. Sometimes, radiation therapy saves the larynx and trachea (windpipe), but they do not work as well. This requires some patients to have a tracheotomy (a surgical procedure that makes an incision in the trachea to open a direct airway) or gastrostomy (surgical opening into the stomach). If patients who have radiation need surgery later, they often have more surgical complications and lower survival rates. What inspired you to look at treating larynx cancer with chemotherapy? While the treatment of larynx cancer was evolving in the United States, another story was unfolding in Paris. Two [...]

Oral Cancer Foundation News Team - A2009-12-02T21:12:25-07:00December, 2009|Oral Cancer News|

Smokers take their last legal puffs in Virginia restaurants

Source: Washington Post Author: Sandhya Somashekhar It was a gentlemen's protest: Scores of cigar-smokers filed into an upscale steakhouse in Reston on Monday night to light up their stogies over cocktails and beef Wellington and lament that the smoking police had finally come to, of all places, Virginia. Four hundred years after John Rolfe planted the nation's first commercial tobacco in Virginia, and decades after state leaders paid homage to the crop by carving its leaves into the ceiling of the old state Senate chamber, smoking officially becomes illegal Tuesday in the state's 17,500 bars and restaurants. Although the suit-and-tie crowd at Morton's exuded a sort of "Mad Men" cool, it wasn't entirely hard to see why some might have been glad this day has finally come. A fragrant, heavy haze rose as 150 regulars worked their way through the four cigars included with a meal organized as a last hurrah for Virginia smokers. "I've always said, if there's a state that would never pass a smoking ban, it's Virginia," said Manassas resident Ed Bennett, leaning on the polished wooden bar with a cocktail cigar in his right hand. "I lost a lot of bets on that one." Morton's wasn't the only restaurant marking the occasion with a bit of celebratory nostalgia. At Jimmy's Old Town Tavern in Herndon, a Camel rep handed out free cigarettes, and customers were treated to an airing of an old Winston TV ad featuring Fred and Barney from "The Flintstones." Owner Jimmy Cirrito sold [...]

Charlotte Parker2009-12-01T16:52:14-07:00December, 2009|Oral Cancer News|

Life-shattering cancer sent PR ‘rock star’ to hell and back

Source: Theglobeandmail.com Author: Michael Posner For 15 years, Mat Wilcox reigned as Canada's queen of corporate crisis management. She sat at the centre of all kinds of tempests - labour disruptions, product tampering and recall cases, the avian flu controversy, and dozens of other high-profile issues. In the prime of life, she was chief executive officer of her own Vancouver-based public relations firm, the Wilcox Group, with a staff of 40 and annual revenues in the millions of dollars. Although she typically worked 80 hours a week, often commuting between offices in Vancouver and Toronto, she was, she says, the picture of good health. And she felt invincible, "fabulous, like a rock star." Then, in an instant, the entire structure toppled over, her confidence shattered. One morning in March of 2008, while putting on her late mother's diamond earrings, she felt a strange lump beside her left ear. She went to an outpatient clinic and was immediately prescribed antibiotics. When that regimen failed to clear it up, her doctor arranged a biopsy. The conclusion was swift and devastating: parotid gland cancer. That grim news was followed by worse: An ultrasound scan uncovered two large, unrelated tumours in her thyroid. In no time at all, Ms. Wilcox's doctors had fast-tracked surgery for her salivary gland cancer and recommended the maximally aggressive radiation treatment for the thyroid. All of a sudden, Ms. Wilcox was confronting the biggest crisis management issue of all - her own life. There was precious little time for [...]

Charlotte Parker2009-12-01T16:15:13-07:00December, 2009|Oral Cancer News|

Implant-based cancer vaccine is first to eliminate tumors in mice

Source: news.biocompare.com Authors: David J. Mooney et al. A cancer vaccine carried into the body on a carefully engineered, fingernail-sized implant is the first to successfully eliminate tumors in mammals, scientists report this week in the journal Science Translational Medicine. The new approach, pioneered by bioengineers and immunologists at Harvard University, uses plastic disks impregnated with tumor-specific antigens and implanted under the skin to reprogram the mammalian immune system to attack tumors. The new paper describes the use of such implants to eradicate melanoma tumors in mice. "This work shows the power of applying engineering approaches to immunology," says David J. Mooney, the Robert P. Pinkas Family Professor of Bioengineering in Harvard's School of Engineering and Applied Sciences and Wyss Institute for Biologically Inspired Engineering. "By marrying engineering and immunology through this collaboration with Glenn Dranoff at the Dana-Farber Cancer Institute, we've taken a major step toward the design of effective cancer vaccines." Most cancer cells easily skirt the immune system, which operates by recognizing and attacking invaders from outside the body. The approach developed by Mooney's group redirects the immune system to target tumors, and appears both more effective and less cumbersome than other cancer vaccines currently in clinical trials. Conventional cancer vaccinations remove immune cells from the body, reprogram them to attack malignant tissues, and return them to the body. However, more than 90 percent of reinjected cells have died before having any effect in experiments. The slender implants developed by Mooney's group are 8.5 millimeters in diameter [...]

Oral Cancer Foundation News Team - A2009-12-01T15:36:50-07:00December, 2009|Oral Cancer News|

Mouthwash multiplies risk of cancer up to nine times

Source: www.theaustralian.com.au Author: Adam Creswell Mouthwashes containing alcohol should be used only for short periods because they may increase the risk of oral cancer by up to nine times. Dental researchers warned yesterday that among people using such mouthwashes, the risk of oral cancer was increased nine times if they smoked, and five times if they drank alcohol. For non-drinkers using alcohol-based mouthwashes, the risk of oral cancer is just under five times higher, the experts warn in the latest edition of the National Prescribing Service journal Australian Prescriber. Brands of mouthwash with more than 20 per cent alcohol could have other harmful effects, including the gum disease gingivitis, flat red spots called petechiae and detachment of the cells lining the mouth, they said. "Although many popular mouthwashes may help to control dental plaque and gingivitis, they should only be used for a short time and only as an adjunct to other oral hygiene measures such as brushing and flossing," they wrote. "Long-term use of ethanol-containing mouthwashes should be discouraged, given recent evidence of a possible link with oral cancer." The paper expands on concerns aired by university researchers early this year.

Oral Cancer Foundation News Team - A2009-12-01T15:27:54-07:00December, 2009|Oral Cancer News|