Oral Cancer News

Tobacco Regulation Bill Advances In Senate Test Vote

Source: CNNMoney Author: Patrick Yoest WASHINGTON -(Dow Jones)- The U.S. Senate took a step forward Tuesday toward debate of a bill that would give the Food and Drug Administration authority to regulate tobacco, as senators showed strong support for the measure in a procedural vote. The Senate voted 84-11 to limit debate on whether to consider the tobacco bill. Sen. Richard Burr, R-N.C., an outspoken opponent of the bill, is expected to pull out the stops by forcing numerous procedural votes on the bill. The bill, introduced by Sen. Edward Kennedy, D-Mass., would give the FDA limited authority to monitor smoking products. It would impose strict controls on advertising that restrict ads to black and white, and stop the use of terms " mild" and "low tar." A similar bill passed the House in April. The Senate is unlikely to debate amendments to the bill until later this week. Burr said Tuesday he wants to introduce an alternative to the bill that would create a new agency within the Health and Human Services Department to regulate tobacco. Burr said he hopes to stretch debate into next week on the tobacco regulation measure. Tobacco producers have a large presence in North Carolina, Burr's home state. Reynolds American Inc.(RAI) and Lorillard Inc. (LO), two leading tobacco companies, are based in North Carolina. Sen. Kay Hagan, D-N.C., is also opposed to the tobacco regulation legislation in the Senate. But Altria Group, Inc. (MO), the parent company of tobacco producer Philip Morris USA, announced its support in March for the House bill allowing FDA regulation of tobacco. [...]

Charlotte Parker2009-06-03T10:21:41-07:00June, 2009|Oral Cancer News|

Career choice determines cancer risk, study finds

Source: www.yle.fi Author: staff A new study shows that cancer risk could depend on a person’s job description. A recently released Nordic study shows how different careers contribute to different forms and incident rates of cancer. Lifestyle factors that are linked to specific careers are often a major influence on who gets cancer and who does not. For example the study found that male bar workers had the highest incidents of developing cancer. Workers in the restaurant and bar industry were most likely to get cancer of the larynx, mouth, tongue, liver, lung, urinary tract and colon. It is more acceptable for workers to smoke and drink alcohol at a bar or restaurant than for example at a school, the study found. The study found that tobacco, asbestos and alcohol – especially in combination with each other – are the biggest cancer-causing factors. Male plumbers who have been exposed to asbestos have a 20 percent higher risk of developing some form of cancer than, for example, farmers. Lung cancer is six times more common in women who work as machine operator compared with their female farming counterparts. Incidents of breast cancer are highest among women who go through long years of education to reach career goals. For example, many female doctors and dentists wait longer than other groups before having children, which itself raises the risk of breast cancer. Not only workers at risk But it is not merely the employed and educated that see an increased risk. Unemployed men [...]

Oral Cancer Foundation News Team - A2009-06-03T04:54:13-07:00June, 2009|Oral Cancer News|

Oxygen and MRI may determine best cancer treatment

Source: www.allheadlinenews.com Author: David Goodhue A combination of a basic magnetic resonance imaging, or MRI, test and breathing oxygen may determine the best course for treating some cancer patients, University of Texas, Southwestern researchers said. Researchers have demonstrated before that the amount of oxygen present in a tumor can be a predictor in its response to treatment. Tumors with little oxygen typically grow stronger and are resistant to chemotherapy and radiation. But the only way to measure the oxygen level in tumors was to insert a large needle directly into the growth. Dr. Ralph Mason, a professor of radiology at the University of Texas, Southwestern, said a technique known as a blood oxygen level dependent, or BOLD, MRI, can detect oxygen levels in tumors noninvasively. The patient only has to breathe oxygen when undergoing the MRI, according to a UT Southwestern press release. "The patient simply inhales pure oxygen, which them circulated through the bloodstream, including to the tumors," Mason said in a statement. A report of Mason and his colleagues' research will appear in a future edition of Magnetic Resonance in Medicine. BOLD MRIs are not new to the medical profession. They have been used extensively in studying brain function. Doctors at UT Southwestern have begun using them to treat patients with cervical, prostate and head and neck cancers.

Oral Cancer Foundation News Team - A2009-06-03T04:48:29-07:00June, 2009|Oral Cancer News|

FDA bad news for snus?

Source: www.cspnet.com Author: staff The subject of putting tobacco under the control of the federal Food & Drug Administration (FDA) has divided the industry. Such regulation may also end product innovation, according to Forbes magazine. The report cites Reynolds American Inc.'s Camel Snus, the spit-free flavored pouch of pasteurized tobacco sold chilled in tins, as an example of the kind of innovation may be the last of its kind after this year's tobacco regulation bill, sponsored by Senator Edward Kennedy (D-Mass.), turns into law. The legislation is expected to easily pass through the Senate on Tuesday or Wednesday, after getting cleared by the House in April, and then quickly get a presidential signature. After test runs in Columbus, Ohio, and Portland, Ore., three years ago, R.J. Reynolds Tobacco Co., Winston-Salem, N.C., now sells Camel Snus in 100,000 locations nationwide. A tin of 15 costs $4.50. (Click here for previous CSP Daily News coverage.) The bill has divided the industry. Altria Group Inc., which makes market-leading Marlboro cigarettes though Phillip Morris USA, Richmond, Va., helped write the bill, which critics say will institutionalize that company's market share. The No. 2 tobacco maker, Reynolds American, which makes Camels through RJR, has been waging the battle against it. Altria is testing Marlboro Snus in Dallas and Indianapolis. (Click here for previous CSP Daily News coverage of Altria's other tobacco products strategy.) Kennedy's bill would allow the FDA to play gatekeeper to tobacco products like snus and newer smokeless tobacco lozenges and sticks. The [...]

Oral Cancer Foundation News Team - A2009-06-02T20:50:28-07:00June, 2009|Oral Cancer News|

DNA therapy for head and neck cancer

Source: Nature Reviews Clinical Oncology 6, 302 (June 2009) Author: Mandy Aujla Researchers have developed an antisense EGFR sequence to target EGFR, and found that this approach was safe and effective in patients with advanced squamous-cell carcinoma of the head and neck. Standard treatment for this type of cancer is suboptimal. Various drugs have been developed to block this increased signaling, such as cetuximab and erlotinib. These agents, however, have had limited success when used as monotherapy in treating squamous-cell carcinoma of the head and neck. Despite encouraging preclinical data these agents produce low response rates and are associated with toxic effects. Therefore, alternative approaches that target EGFR are needed. In this phase I trial, Lai and colleagues evaluated the safety and toxicity of EGFR antisense DNA therapy in 20 patients with advanced squamous-cell carcinoma of the head and neck. All patients included in the study had advanced disease that was unresponsive to standard therapies. The researchers tested six levels of the antisense EGFR at doses ranging from 60 to 1,920 g per injection, with three patients in each dose tier. The antisense EGFR was injected into the most accessible single tumor lesion once a week for 4 weeks. A biopsy was performed within 2 weeks of the final injection. A total of 17 patients completed the treatment course and were available for assessment. Of the five patients who achieved a clinical response, two had a complete response and three achieved a partial response. Two other patients had stable disease. [...]

Oral Cancer Foundation News Team - A2009-06-02T17:45:23-07:00June, 2009|Oral Cancer News|

New broad-spectrum vaccine to prevent cervical cancer induces strong responses in animals

Source: Journal of the National Cancer Institute Author: Staff Wednesday, May 27, 2009 Mice and rabbits immunized with a multimeric-L2 protein vaccine had robust antibody responses and were protected from infection when exposed to human papillomavirus (HPV) type 16 four months after vaccination, according to a new study published in the May 26 online issue of the Journal of the National Cancer Institute. Current HPV L1-based vaccines are almost 100% protective against infection by the two HPV types that are responsible for 70% of all cervical cancer cases world wide. However, the existing vaccines provide limited protection against the other HPV types that cause cancer. With that limitation in mind, Richard Roden, Ph.D., of the Johns Hopkins University in Baltimore, and colleagues have been working on an alternate vaccine that is based on the HPV minor capsid protein L2, which is highly conserved between HPV types. Previous experiments showed that the L2 protein induced only a weak antibody response in animals. In the current study, Roden and colleagues linked together a short segment of the L2 protein from several HPV types to generate a single multimeric L2 fusion protein. They tested the ability of this multimeric-L2 protein to induce antibody responses in animals and its ability to protect them from subsequent infection with HPV type 16. Mice immunized with the multimeric L2 vaccine developed robust antibody responses against all of the HPV types tested, although the antibody titer was still lower than the type-restricted responses following vaccination with an existing [...]

Charlotte Parker2009-06-02T20:49:51-07:00June, 2009|Oral Cancer News|

Trial shows cancer vaccine success

Source: Channel4news.com Author: Staff A vaccine against a sexually transmitted disease which causes most forms of cervical cancer can protect older women, according to a new study. Women aged from 24 to 45 who have not already been infected with the human papilloma virus (HPV) can be protected by the HPV vaccine, according to an article published in the medical journal The Lancet. HPV is a sexually transmitted disease which is responsible for most forms of cervical cancer. Trials were conducted with over 3,000 women in the relevant age group who had not been infected with HPV. Half were given a placebo and half were given a vaccine which protects against four strains of HPV. The researchers found that four cases of infection occurred in the vaccine group compared to 41 in the placebo group – meaning the vaccine was 91 per cent effective against all four virus strains. Looking at HPV 16 and 18 only, which are responsible for 70 per cent of cases of cervical cancer, four cases occurred in the vaccine group compared with 23 in the placebo group, meaning the vaccine was 83 per cent effective. When trials were conducted with women who had already been infected with HPV, the vaccine was only 30 per cent effective. The report's author, Dr Nubia Muñoz, therefore suggested that the public health benefit of vaccinating the older age group could potentially be less cost-effective than vaccinating teenagers who were less likely to have been sexually active. Currently teenage [...]

Charlotte Parker2009-06-02T11:14:02-07:00June, 2009|Oral Cancer News|

Induction chemotherapy followed by chemoradiotherapy increased time-to-treatment failure compared to chemoradiotherapy alone in patients with unresectable locally advanced head & neck cancer

Source: news.prnewswire.com Author: press release The Spanish Head and Neck Cancer Cooperative Group (TTCC) announced today that Induction Chemotherapy (IC) delivered prior to standard ChemoRadiotherapy (CRT), a treatment paradigm defined as sequential therapy, compared to upfront CRT alone, significantly prolonged Time-to-Treatment Failure (TTF) for patients with unresectable Locally Advanced Head and Neck Cancer (LAHNC). The endpoint of Time-to-Treatment Failure was defined as a composite of time-to-disease progression, -to-surgery or other cancer-related treatments, -to-drop-out due to an adverse event, and to death from any cause. Final results (abstract #6009) from the Phase 3 randomized study were presented by Prof. Ricardo Hitt, of the University Hospital 12 de Octubre, Madrid, in an oral presentation at the 2009 annual meeting of the American Society of Clinical Oncology (ASCO). The results of this study have also been selected for inclusion in the Best of ASCO(R) program. The Best of ASCO(R) is an educational initiative that condenses highlights from ASCO's Annual Meeting, with the objective of increasing global access to cutting-edge science that is relevant and significant in oncology today. This study enrolled 439 patients with Locally Advanced Head and Neck Cancer with good performance status, who were randomly assigned to receive standard CRT (cisplatin and fractionated radiation) versus the same treatment preceded by IC, which consisted of cisplatin plus 5-fluorouracil (5-FU) with or without Taxotere(R) (docetaxel) Injection Concentrate. The study was designed to compare the results of those patients who received IC prior to CRT (sequential therapy) and patients who received CRT alone. The [...]

Oral Cancer Foundation News Team - A2009-05-31T17:51:31-07:00May, 2009|Oral Cancer News|

New treatment combination proves safe for head and neck cancer patients

Source: www.eurekalert.org/pub_releases Author: press release Patients undergoing treatment for advanced head and neck cancers may respond well to the addition of gefinitib to chemotherapy, according to a study sponsored by the Eastern Cooperative Oncology Group and chaired by Ethan Argiris, M.D., associate professor of medicine, University of Pittsburgh School of Medicine, and co-leader of the Head and Neck Cancer Program of the University of Pittsburgh Cancer Institute (UPCI). The results will be disclosed at the 45th annual meeting of the American Society of Clinical Oncology (ASCO) on May 30 in Orlando, Fla. "We found that adding gefinitib to standard chemotherapy was well-tolerated by patients who had already received chemotherapy or were frail," said Dr. Argiris. "We had hoped this study would improve the survival rate of patients, but while gefinitib did postpone spread of the disease, it did not increase survival rates. The finding that the addition of gefinitib to chemotherapy can delay the growth of head and neck cancer suggests a potential beneficial effect from combination therapy." One group of 136 patients in the placebo-controlled study received docetaxel alone, a standard treatment for head and neck cancer. A second group of 134 patients received gefinitib in addition to docetaxel. This was the first phase III randomized trial to examine the addition of gefinitib to chemotherapy for patients with head and neck cancer. Gefinitib, which also is known by the trade name Iressa, is a targeted therapy against the epidermal growth factor receptor (EGFR) with fewer side effects than traditional [...]

Oral Cancer Foundation News Team - A2009-05-31T17:41:24-07:00May, 2009|Oral Cancer News|

Jeg Coughlin Sr. Chair filled by OSU’s Gillison

Source: Go2geiger.com Author: News Staff Leading human papilloma virus (HPV) expert Maura Gillison, MD, PhD, was officially named to the Jeg Coughlin Sr. Chair in Cancer Research during a special ceremony Wednesday night at the Longaberger Alumni House at The Ohio State University. "This is a dream come true for all of us," said Coughlin, who was surrounded by his four sons and many members of the extended Coughlin family. "This Chair represents a legacy that will continue forever. Cancer research takes commitment from a financial aspect and more importantly from a research and development side. Dr. Gillison has accomplished so many things already and we truly feel the best is yet to come." Gillison recently joined OSU's staff after a successful stint as associate professor at Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine in Baltimore, Md., where she was a member of the Sidney Kimmel Comprehensive Cancer Center. She now serves as professor of medicine in the division of hematology and oncology at OSU and is a member of the Cancer Control and Viral Oncology Programs at the Comprehensive Cancer Center. "Unfortunately, like so many other families, the Coughlins have been touched by cancer," Gillison said. "Now, they are a family on a mission. They put the same enthusiasm they bring to racing into cancer research. The Coughlin family has made it possible for me to take my research into a much broader direction and to really think outside of the box." Focusing on the role that [...]

Charlotte Parker2009-05-29T09:37:54-07:00May, 2009|Oral Cancer News|