9/23/2006 Nashville, TN staff NewsChannel5.com Throat and neck cancer surgeries can leave patients with serious side effects like disfiguring scars and speech problems. But with the help of a robot, two surgeons are the first in the world to treat these types of cancers without making even one incision. Surgeons used to cut across the throat to remove the tumor. But the robot operates through the patient's mouth, so the only incisions are small and are made on the inside of the body. "Now, we do remove the entire tumor but we don't have to do things such as wide incisions on the neck, or breaking or splitting the jaw bone and moving the tongue aside," head and neck surgeon at the University of Pennsylvania Bert O'Malley Jr., MD said. Doctors O'Malley and Gregory Weinstein developed the technique. "The robot allows me to move my hands on the joysticks of the robotic consul, and it's as if my hands were made this small, and I could get them right into the mouth to do the operation," Weinstein said. The two surgeons partner on each operation -- one at the consul, and one by the patient's side. Patients lose less blood and can actually talk and swallow easier after the robotic surgery because there's no cutting. "We are now being able to do the surgery with decreased side effects," Weinstein said. These surgeries used to take up to 15 hours. Now, with the robot they take about three. Each year in [...]

9/23/2006 San Francisco, CA Maricris Macabeo-Ong et al. Molecular Diagnostics in Cancer Therapeutic Development, Sep 12-15, 2006 Diagnostic Technologies and Molecular and Cellular Profiling: Biomarkers in Early Detection and Diagnosis Introduction: Cervical lymph node metastasis (N+ node) is the critical prognostic factor for oral cancer patients. Detection of N+ node remains problematic because there are no biomarkers available to predict regional spread. Therefore, the goal of this study is to use proteomics technology to identify candidate biomarkers that may be associated with cervical lymph node metastasis. Method: Frozen tissues of a buccal mucosa SCC and associated node containing metastatic tumor (N+) were obtained from one patient. Lesional tissue was microdissected, proteins extracted and separated by two-dimensional (2D) gel electrophoresis. The gels were stained with Colloidal Coomassie Blue and imaged using ImageMaster 2D Platinum software. The 2D gels were differentially analyzed to identify proteins both common and unique to the primary tumor and N+ node. Proteins less than 50 kDa were cut from the gels, trypsin digested and identified using MALDI-TOF peptide mass fingerprinting and LC MS/MS analysis. Immunohistochemistry (IHC) was used on the tissues to confirm, localize and compare the expression of proteins identified by mass spectrometry. Results: 353 proteins were resolved in the primary SCC while 376 proteins were resolved in tumor within the lymph node. 210 proteins between the primary tumor and N+ node showed identical migration and percent spot volume. 166 and 143 proteins were unique spots to primary tumor and N+ node, respectively. Based on differential [...]

9/23/2006 Paris, France staff Forbes.com Sanofi-Aventis said its Taxotere drug received a positive opinion from the Committee for Medicinal Products for Human Use (CHMP) in Europe for the treatment of patients with inoperable advanced head and neck cancer. Following the CHMP review, the positive opinion for the new application will be transmitted to the European Commission. The treatment, by injection, in combination with a classic treatment of the condition with cisplatin and 5-fluorouracil, was found in a study to prolong median survival among patients to 18.6 months from 14.5 with the classic treatment. Very few treatment options are currently available for patients with head and neck cancer, Sanofi quoted Dr Jan B Vermorken, Head of Oncology at University Hospital Antwerp, who led the study, as saying. He said the study is the first to identify a chemotherapy treatment preceding the main treatment that extended life for patients with inoperable head and neck cancer. This additional application for Taxotere is also currently under priority review by the US Food and Drug Administration.

9/21/2006 Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia ZY Usof et al. Oral Health Prev Dent, January 1, 2006; 4(3): 165-71 Objectives: To assess whether or not opportunistic oral cancer screening by dentists to detect pre-malignant or early cancer lesions is feasible. The objective was to analyse the patterns of dental attendance of a national representative sample over a period of 10 years to ascertain whether individuals at high-risk of oral cancer would be accessible for opportunistic oral cancer screening. Methods: Secondary analysis of data extracted from the British Household Panel Survey, a national longitudinal survey (n=5547). Analysis to ascertain whether patterns of attendance for dental check-ups for a period of 10 years (1991-2001) were associated with risk factors for oral cancer such as age, sex, education, social class, smoking status and smoking intensity. Results: Males, aged over 40 years, less educated manual workers and smokers were significantly less likely to attend for dental check-ups compared with females and younger, higher educated, higher socio-economic class non-smokers (p < 0.05). Throughout the 10-year period, young people, more than older people, had progressively lower odds ratios of attending. Those with more education used dental services more. Heavy smokers were infrequent attendees. Conclusions: This study suggests that opportunistic oral cancer screening by dentists is not feasible to include high-risk groups as they are not regular attendees over 10 years. Those who would be screened would be the low-risk groups. However, dentists should continue screening all patients as oral precancers are also found in regular attendees. More should [...]

9/21/2006 Yokohama, Japan I Tohnai Nagoya J Med Sci, June 1, 2006; 68(3-4): 101-8 There are three historically recognized methods of intra-arterial infusion for oral cancer: Conventional intra-arterial infusion via the superficial temporal artery: Superselective intra-arterial infusion via the femoral artery (Seldinger method), New superselective intra-arterial infusion via the superficial temporal artery. Here we report a recent instance of daily concurrent chemoradiotherapy using a new superselective intra-arterial infusion. A catheter with a curved tip was inserted superselectively into the feeding artery of the tumor via the superficial temporal artery (long-term catheterization has become possible using this method). The patient with T3 tongue cancer was treated by chemoradiotherapy. Radiotherapy (total dose: 40 Gy/4weeks) and superselective intra-arterial infusion chemotherapy using docetaxel (DOC) (total dose: 60 mg/m2/4weeks, 15 mg/m2/week) and cisplatin (CDDP) (total dose: 100 mg/m2/4weeks, 5 mg/m2/day) were concurrently performed daily, followed by surgery, after which no major complication was observed. The clinical effect was complete response (CR), and the pathological effect on the resected tumor after surgery was pathological CR. This method promises to be a new strategy of choice for the treatment of oral cancer. Author's affiliation: Department of Oral and Maxillofacial Surgery, Yokohama City University Graduate School of Medicine, Japan

9/21/2006 Mumbai, India press release moneycontrol.com Biocon Ltd has announced the launch of BIOMAb-EGFR, a therapeutic monoclonal antibody-based drug for treating solid tumours of epithelial origin, such as head and neck cancers. Announcing this, the company's release to BSE said this novel drug is designed to specifically target and arrest epidermal growth factor receptor (EGFR) responsible for the proliferation of cancer cells. BIOMAb-EGFR is the first drug of its kind to be clinically developed in India and is the first anti-EGFR humanised mono-clonal antibody for cancer to be made available commercially anywhere in the world. The company, through the launch, joins the exclusive league of monoclonal antibody developers globally. BIOMAb-EGFR is competitively priced, making cancer treatment more affordable. BIOMAb-EGFR is indicated for use in combination with radiation therapy/ chemotherapy in patients with positive expression of EGFR in squamous cell carcinoma of head and neck cancer. In clinical trials, BIOMAb-EGFR showed extensive proliferation inhibition activity in non-small cell lung cancer, breast cancer, colorectal cancer, pancreatic cancer, and glioblastoma (brain tumors).

9/20/2006 Madison, WI Katerina Strati et al. PNAS | September 19, 2006 | vol. 103 | no. 38 | 14152-14157 Head and neck squamous cell carcinoma (HNSCC) is a leading cause of cancer mortality worldwide. Recent reports have associated a subset of HNSCC with high-risk human papillomaviruses (HPVs), particularly HPV16, the same subset of HPVs responsible for the majority of cervical and anogenital cancers. In this study we describe a mouse model for HPV-associated HNSCC that employs mice transgenic for the HPV16 oncogenes E6 and E7. In these mice, E6 and E7 induce aberrant epithelial proliferation and, in the presence of a chemical carcinogen, they increase dramatically the animal's susceptibility to HNSCC. The cancers arising in the HPV16-transgenic mice mirror the molecular and histopathological characteristics of human HPV-positive HNSCC that distinguish the latter from human HPV-negative HNSCC, including overexpression of p16 protein and formation of more basaloid cancers. This validated model of HPV-associated HNSCC provides the means to define the contributions of individual HPV oncogenes to HNSCC and to understand the molecular basis for the differing clinical properties of HPV-positive and HPV-negative human HNSCC. From this study, we identify minichromosome maintenance protein 7 (MCM7) and p16 as potentially useful biomarkers for HPV-positive head and neck cancer. Authors: Katerina Strati, Henry C. Pitot, and Paul F. Lambert Authors' affiliation: McArdle Laboratory for Cancer Research, University of Wisconsin School of Medicine and Public Health, 1400 University Avenue, Madison, WI 53706

9/19/2006 Boston, MA Liz Kowalczyk Boston Globe (Boston.com) The rising number of Massachusetts residents with cancer will outstrip the capacity of radiation treatment facilities within four years, say public health officials, who for the first time in 13 years are asking hospitals that do not already offer such therapy to build expensive new treatment centers. Doctors will diagnose 38,248 residents with cancer in 2010, health officials estimate, 18 percent more than the number of new cases diagnosed in 2000. Treating these patients will require at least eight additional multi-million-dollar radiation facilities, and health officials in July changed state regulations to allow more hospitals to build such centers. The facilities cost at least $5 million to build, largely because the machine that produces the radiation must be housed in a thick-walled vault to keep the damaging rays from escaping. It's unclear how many smaller hospitals will be willing to shoulder the expense. "That's the million-dollar question," said Anuj Goel, attorney for the Massachusetts Hospital Association , which is a nonprofit group . "It's all based on money and resources and patient need." If hospitals don't build enough radiation oncology facilities, patients could experience longer waits for therapy. Radiation therapy is one of the most common treatments for cancer, with about half of the patients requiring it to shrink their tumors, state officials estimate. And doctors expect radiation therapy to be used for more types of cancer in the future, meaning the state could be underestimating demand for the service. While once [...]

9/19/2006 Toronto, Ontario, Canada Editorial - John N. Waldron Journal of Clinical Oncology, Vol 24, No 27 (September 20), 2006: pp. 4367-4368 At present, the potential uses for positron emission tomography (PET) in the management of cancer include the characterization of disease at presentation, assessment of disease response to treatment, and the detection of recurrent disease. Published reports of the use of PET in cancer patients listed in the PubMed database have multiplied by a factor of 10 over the last decade, with close to 1,000 reports in 2005. It is reasonable to conclude that, for the majority of patients at presentation who undergo staging with computed tomography (CT) and/or magnetic resonance imaging (MRI), the use of fluorodeoxyglucose (FDG) PET does not add information that would change initial management. Nonetheless, FDG-PET will detect disease that would have been otherwise overlooked for an important minority of patients. The consequence should prevent undertreatment in the case of specifically targeted therapies such as surgery or radiation. Alternatively, when FDG-PET determines that disease has spread beyond the possibility of curative treatments, the morbidity of overtreatment will be avoided. A greater potential impact of FDG-PET is its putative ability to exclude disease, thereby avoiding the need for further investigation or more extensive local or systemic treatment. Examples of this potential could be the avoidance of axillary dissection and cytotoxic chemotherapy in breast cancer patients with a PET-negative axilla, the avoidance of mediastinoscopy for lung cancer patients with a PET-negative mediastinum, and, in many cancer sites [...]

9/19/2006 Philadelphia, PA staff Biocompare.com Abnormal overexpression of p53 is a predictive molecular biomarker of advexin efficacy in recurrent squamous cell carcinoma of the head and neck A common laboratory test that predicted poor outcome from traditional radiation and chemotherapy treatment for head and neck cancers now has been found to predict a good prognosis with treatment of p53 tumor suppressor gene therapy - making it potentially the first predictive biomarker test for a gene-based drug. Researchers at Introgen Therapeutics, Inc., in Austin, Texas, found that patients with advanced squamous cell carcinoma of the head and neck cancer (SCCHN) whose pre-treatment tumor samples over-expressed p53 protein were significantly more likely to respond to Advexin therapy than those whose tumor showed little p53 protein. Advexin is a gene based drug, injected directly into tumors, which uses an adenoviral vector to deliver the wild type p53 gene to tumor cells. Results were presented at the first meeting on Molecular Diagnostics in Cancer Therapeutic Development, organized by the American Association for Cancer Research. "Not only do we now have a way to predict if the gene therapy is likely to succeed, those patients for which it does work are the hardest patients to treat," said Laura L. Licato, Ph.D., associate director for Clinical Research at Introgen. "Accumulation of p53 has corresponded with a poor response to traditional therapies, as well as lower survival and a shorter time to disease progression." "Selecting those who have the best chance of responding to p53 tumor suppressor [...]