12/10/2005 Minneapolis-St. Paul, MN Jamie VanGeest The Minnesota Daily (www.mndaily.com) Sue Linder sat in the dentist’s chair staring into the bright light as doctors examined the crevices of her mouth. Two months ago, Linder of Bloomington had a sore in her mouth that wouldn’t go away. Her dentist referred her to the country’s only oral clinic that studies and treats precancerous mouth lesions. The clinic is a part of the University’s Academic Health Center. While Linder attempted to proudly speak about her daughter’s job with a newspaper in Fort Worth, Texas, Frank Ondrey, an ear, nose and throat doctor from the Medical School, and Nelson Rhodus, a professor of oral medicine at the University’s School of Dentistry, inspected her mouth. Linder is participating in a study to test a new drug. The drug treats cells of the mouth so they don’t become cancerous, Rhodus said. Oral cancer is the sixth-most common cancer in the United States. Half of people with oral cancer die within five years. Oral cancer has a survival rate worse than breast, colon and lung cancers, he said. Survival rates haven’t improved for oral cancer in the past 30 years, unlike with other cancers. This means there has not been a lot of research on the disease, Rhodus said. Ninety percent of people aren’t even aware that oral cancer exists, and many health care professionals aren’t either, he said. In the past, cases of oral cancer have been more prevalent in older people who smoke and drink [...]

12/10/2005 Sweden staff Join Together (www.jointogether.org) Swedish researchers said in a new report that use of wet snuff, or "snus," increases the risk of oral and pancreatic cancer and fatal heart disease -- findings that were attacked by snuff maker Swedish Match, Reuters reported Dec. 6. The research review by the Swedish National Institute of Public Health and the Karolinska Institute concluded that the snus -- sometimes touted as a safer alternative to smoking -- carries health hazards of its own. About one in five Swedes uses snus. "A review of findings from recent years ... shows that Swedish snuff is carcinogenic and raises the risk of death from heart disease," the report said. Swedish Match insisted that snus is less dangerous than smoking, noting that Swedes have lower rates of tobacco-related diseases. "That which is presented as an unbiased, scientific report has been adjusted to fit with the Institute of Public Health's anti-snuff attitude," the company said in a statement.

12/8/2005 Durham, North Carolina press release Duke University News (www.dukenews.edu) Duke University biochemists aided by Duke computer scientists and computational chemists have identified the likely way two key enzymes dock in an intricate three-dimensional puzzle-fit to regulate cell division. Solving the docking puzzle could lead to anticancer drugs to block the runaway cell division behind some cancers, said the researchers. Significantly, their insights arose not just from meticulous biochemical studies, but also from using sophisticated simulation techniques to perform "chemistry in the computer." In a paper published Nov. 24, 2005 online in the journal Biochemistry, members of the interdisciplinary collaboration described how they discovered the probable orientation required for a Cdc25B phosphatase enzyme to "dock" with and activate a cyclin-dependent kinase protein complex that also functions as an enzyme, known as Cdk2-pTpY--CycA. The work was funded by the National Institutes of Health. Detailed study of such docking is important because uncontrolled overreaction of the Cdc25 family of enzymes has been associated with the development of various cancers. Anti-cancer drugs that jam the enzyme, preventing its docking with the kinase, could halt cell over proliferation to treat such cancers. However, developing such drugs has been hampered by lack of detailed understanding of how the Cdc25s fit with their associated kinases. "To me this is the culmination of my six years here at Duke," said Johannes Rudolph, the Duke assistant professor of chemistry and biochemistry who led the research. "It's very exciting. I think it's a really hard problem." A successful docking [...]

12/8/2005 Florida staff Biocompare (www.biocompare.com) University of Florida researchers say they are a step closer to a technique to easily detect a wide variety of cancers before symptoms become apparent. The findings, currently online in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, involve introducing molecularly engineered strands of DNA into cell cultures and observing whether they unleash a fluorescent burst after they adhere to cancer proteins. The technique could enable doctors to search within extremely complex fluid or tissue samples to pinpoint biomarkers - proteins that signal that something is amiss. "Even when the cancer biomarkers are in extremely low concentration we have been able to detect them," said Weihong Tan, Ph.D., a UF Research Foundation professor of chemistry in the College of Liberal Arts and Sciences and a member of the UF Genetics Institute, the UF Shands Cancer Center and the McKnight Brain Institute. "This approach could help for early diagnosis of cancer, as well as for detecting residual cancer in patients after treatment." It works by capitalizing on fluorescent molecules engineered into tiny strands of DNA or RNA. Known as aptamers, the strands act as molecular beacons, corresponding and readily binding to a sought-after substance such as cancer protein. In this case, the target was platelet derived growth factor, or PDGF, a protein that regulates cell growth and division. Elevated PDGF levels have been linked to different forms of cancer, and have been found in patients with malignancies of the ovaries, kidneys, lung, pancreas and brain. After [...]

12/15/2005 Carolina staff News14Carolina (rdu.news14.com) Each year, there are nearly 30,000 cases of head and neck cancer. Surgery, chemotherapy and radiation all have their benefits but can leave patients with a difficult time swallowing. Now, doctors are working to improve that. Allen Clark, M.D., is a plastic surgeon. But two years ago, he became a patient. "I actually had a lymph node come up in my neck," he says. "Being a physician -- a surgeon -- knowing what that means, I was pretty sure I had cancer." It was throat cancer. Doctors recommended chemotherapy and radiation. But radiation caused Clark's throat to tighten, and swallowing became excruciatingly painful. "It's almost like you're drinking hot coffee that's too hot, and you burn your throat, but you do that every day for six or seven weeks," Bill Carroll, M.D., an otolaryngologist at University of Alabama at Birmingham, tells Ivanhoe. Dr. Carroll and colleagues noticed patients who continued to swallow during treatment, instead of relying on a feeding tube, did better. Now, patients are taught a series of swallowing exercises they do before and during treatment. "One of the exercises that we did was we'd hold my tongue between my teeth and swallow," Clark says. Another is making a high-pitch "E" sound to elevate the larynx. All the exercises work to strengthen the tongue and throat muscles. Patients say the exercises are simple but can be painful. "But most of them do try," Dr. Carroll says. "And for the ones that are able [...]

12/3/2005 Fairfax, VA staff Doctor's Guide (www.docguide.com) Patients suffering from advanced head and neck cancer affecting their larynx can maintain vocal function by undergoing a combination of radiation therapy and chemotherapy instead of surgery to remove the larynx, according to a study published in the December 1, 2005, issue of the International Journal of Radiation Oncology*Biology*Physics. Doctors in the Department of Otolaryngology - Head and Neck Surgery at the University of Michigan in Ann Arbor, Mich., studied 97 patients with advanced laryngeal cancer. All of the patients were given an initial course of chemotherapy and depending on their response to that treatment, they either underwent a laryngectomy to remove the larynx or received radiation therapy coupled with chemotherapy. The results showed that patients who were able to keep their larynx intact and underwent radiation therapy maintained a higher voice-related quality of life than those who had their larynx removed. While swallowing function was comparable between the two groups, understandability of speech was much better in patients who kept their larynx. In addition, 89% of patients with their larynx intact were able to obtain nutrition orally and without supplements, compared to 64% who underwent the laryngectomy. The overall three-year survival rate for all patients was 86%. "Undergoing the radiation, chemotherapy combination can increase toxicity levels in some patients, but maintaining the overall quality of life for those patients justifies the potential for added toxicity," said Kevin Fung, MD, FRCS(C), lead author of the study and currently a Head and Neck Surgeon [...]

11/30/2005 Toronto, Ontario, Canada press release PR Newswire (www. prnewswire.com) Cedara Software, a Merge Healthcare company (Nasdaq: MRGE; TSX: MRG) and a leading independent developer of medical software technologies for the global healthcare market, today announced its exhibition of a works-in-progress suite of software solutions for oncology diagnosis and treatment analysis at the annual meeting of the Radiological Society of North America. Oncology is one of the fastest growing areas for medical imaging in healthcare. With a wealth of experience in developing disease centric solutions for healthcare specialists, Cedara will introduce a new clinical product line named Cedara OncologyWorks to the radiology community at RSNA. Applications demonstrated will include functional components designed to assist with therapy planning and response assessment through PET/CT fusion, magnetic resonance (MR) based functional diffusion mapping, tracking quantitative tumour measurements over time, patient follow-up management and more. Cedara OncologyWorks provides first of kind support for diagnostic and therapeutic assessment for radiologists and radiation oncologists; for PACS vendors, device manufacturers, pharmaceutical companies and other solution providers, Cedara OncologyWorks provides leading edge capability in oncology care. Cancer is a major public cost for healthcare in the United States as well as in other developed countries. In 2004 alone, a total of 1,368,030 new cancer cases and 563,700 deaths are predicted to have occurred in the United States alone. Among the products demonstrated at RSNA, Cedara will be highlighting progress in the development of its multi-modality workstation Cedara I-Response(TM). Cedara I-Response is a works-in-progress software solution that features an [...]

11/30/2005 Victoria, Australia Lorna Edwards The Age (theage.com.au) UP TO four Victorians are diagnosed with oral cancer every week, with more than a quarter of them dying from the disease. The cancer claimed the lives of 43 men and 22 women in Victoria in 2003, with 230 people diagnosed that year, according to Cancer Council Victoria figures released yesterday. "I'm sure the public aren't aware of the strong connection between tobacco use and mouth cancer," said council director Professor David Hill. Almost 60 per cent of those diagnosed with oral cancer are smokers. Alcohol significantly boosts the risk, with more than three-quarters of those diagnosed being frequent drinkers. Symptoms of oral cancer — which occurs in the tongue, gum, floor of the mouth or internal cheek — include swelling, non-healing ulcers, colour change and persistent bleeding. Five years after being diagnosed with the disease, just over half the patients will still be alive. Many face extensive surgery, facial disfigurement, loss of teeth and difficulty in speech, said Todd Harper, director of anti-smoking organisation Quit. But quitting smoking dramatically reduces the risk of contracting oral cancer. "Within five years, their risk has dropped by a half," Mr Harper said. A detailed colour picture of a mouth afflicted with oral cancer will appear as one of the new cigarette packet health labels next year. "Smokers are going to be shocked on March 1 when they start to buy packets with a very graphic picture of mouth cancer and bad teeth as a [...]

11/29/2005 staff cancerconsultants.com A test to detect changes in the Cyclin D1 gene provides information about the probability of occult (hidden) lymph node metastases in patients with stage I or stage II squamous cell carcinoma of the mouth, according to a study published in the journal Cancer . Cancer of the oral cavity involves the tongue, gums, the inner lining of the cheeks and lips, the hard palate, or the floor of the mouth. Squamous cell carcinoma is the most common type of oral cancer; it refers to the type of cell in which the cancer originates. Oral squamous cell carcinoma (OSCC) is strongly linked with tobacco use, and the combination of tobacco with alcohol further increases risk. Among patients with early (stage I or stage II) OSCC, an important clinical decision involves whether or not to remove and evaluate lymph nodes in the neck for evidence of occult metastases. The presence of lymph node metastases is an important indicator of prognosis and guides treatment decisions. Some patients are at greater risk of having lymph node metastases and are therefore more likely to benefit from lymph node dissection. One potential predictor of the presence of lymph node metastases is the Cyclin D1 gene. The protein produced by this gene plays a role in cell proliferation. To evaluate the relationship between numerical alterations in the Cyclin D1 gene and postoperative lymph node metastases, researchers in Japan conducted a study among 45 patients with stage I or stage II oral cancer. Patients [...]

11/28/2005 Sydney, Australia Amy Lawson The Sydney Morning Herald (www.smh.com.au) Australian cancer experts are spearheading the trial of a new drug that is dramatically improving the survival rates of patients with aggressive head and neck cancers. The drug, which has ramifications for the treatment of other aggressive forms of cancer including those in the lungs, cervix and oesophagus, could be available as soon as the end of next year if given the green light by drug administrators. Professor Lester Peters, a world leader in cancer research from the Peter MacCallum Cancer Centre in Melbourne, is leading the trial for the drug tirapazamine. The trial is in its final testing phase and has already had some astounding results. Sandy Bodecker, the former husband of runner Cathy Freeman, participated in one of the trials. He made a full recovery from the throat cancer he was originally told was inoperable. In the first phase of the trial, only two of the 16 patients with advanced head or neck cancers had a recurrence of their tumours after receiving treatment with the drug. "It can be a cure, but not in everyone," Professor Peters said yesterday in Sydney. "But a huge proportion of patients have had their tumours eradicated if they've been treated with this drug. "It's a very gruesome way to die - of uncontrolled cancer in the head and neck. If we can prevent that . . . we've done them a service." Head and neck cancers are almost always found in smokers [...]