Oral Cancer News – Page 101 – The Oral Cancer Foundation News Archive

HPV vaccine now free for ‘at-risk’ boys and men under 26

Source: www.vancitybuzz.com Author: Jill Slattery The government of B.C. announced this week the HPV vaccine for human papilloma virus will now be available free of charge to boys and men under age 26 who classify as ‘at-risk’. Beginning in September, the free HPV vaccine program currently only available to young women will become available to men who have sex with males or who are “street-involved”. “Providing the vaccine for all girls protects heterosexual boys as well, but leaves at-risk boys and young men unprotected. This change will address that gap,” said the province in a media release. “The human papilloma virus is the most common sexually transmitted infection,” said Health Minister Terry Lake. “It can lead to serious health problems and could develop into an HPV-related cancer. Our vaccination program will help protect all young British Columbians from cancers and other diseases caused by HPV infection.” HPV can be contracted by having sex with another person infected by the virus. According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), HPV is “spread easily during anal or vaginal sex, and it can also be spread through oral sex or other close skin-to-skin touching during sex. HPV can be spread even when an infected person has no visible signs or symptoms.” While HPV may cause little to no symptoms in some, it can lead to genital warts and certain kinds of cancer. In men, oropharyngeal cancers (cancers at the back of the throat) are the most common. “In general, HPV is [...]

Oral Cancer Foundation News Team - A2015-07-10T12:36:14-07:00July, 2015|Oral Cancer News|

Cancer patient has his mouth and tongue rebuilt using tissue from arm

Source: www.dailymail.co.uk Author: Madlen Davies When David Barwell was diagnosed with the advanced mouth cancer, he feared he would never speak or eat again. But now, British surgeons have rebuilt his entire oral cavity using tissue from his arm, in a 15-hour operation. They had to remove a tumour the size of a plum from his throat, forcing them to cut away the bottom of his mouth and tongue. But medics were able to use skin and blood vessels from his arm to rebuild the oral cavity, and re-model his tongue. The operation will allow him to eat, drink and one day speak again, they hope. British-born Mr Barwell, who was living in Poland when he was diagnosed, travelled across Europe in a campervan to come back to Britain for treatment. Now recovering from the operation, he and his wife of 28 years, Barbara, have praised the NHS and its staff as 'incredible'. Mrs Barwell, a 67-year-old mother-of-one, was fought back tears as she thanked the NHS for its work. She said: 'These people are amazing. After working for 15 hours to save David's life and rebuild his mouth the surgeon, Mr McVicar, called me personally to tell me the operation had worked, and I could not believe it. I have never seen treatment so good, not anywhere in Europe.' Mrs Barwell, who grew up in Poland but moved to Nottingham in the 1980s to study, added: 'We used to make plans, both as a family and a business, but now we just can't. [...]

Oral Cancer Foundation News Team - A2015-07-07T09:16:54-07:00July, 2015|Oral Cancer News|

Hey, Ontario — boys deserve protection from HPV, too

Source: news.nationalpost.com Author: Robyn Urback For years now, groups including the Canadian Medical Association, the Canadian Cancer Society and the National Advisory Committee on Immunization have been petitioning the Ontario government to cover the cost of the HPV vaccine for boys. Since 2007, the province has paid to immunize girls against the common sexually transmitted infection — which is known to cause cervical, vaginal and other cancers in women, and mouth and throat cancers in men — but boys still have to shell out around $400 or more for three doses (though recent studies show that two doses may be sufficient) of the demonstrably effective, safe vaccine. Alberta and Prince Edward Island already cover the cost of the immunizations for both boys and girls, and so too will Nova Scotia as of this coming fall. And there’s good reason for that: doctors say that the rates of oral cancers among men have risen dramatically over the past several years, with HPV present in about two-thirds of cases. The good news is that the survival rate of these HPV-positive cancers is about 80 per cent; the bad news is that there can be lifelong effects, including problems with swallowing, hearing, tasting and in extreme cases, dependence on a feeding tube. But here’s more good news: we know the HPV vaccine works. In the U.S., for example, it has been shown to reduce the rates of infection among 14- to 19-year-old girls by more than 56 per cent since it was introduced [...]

Oral Cancer Foundation News Team - A2015-07-03T18:37:03-07:00July, 2015|Oral Cancer News|

U.S. Chamber of Commerce Works Globally to Fight Antismoking Measures

Source: www.nytimes.comAuthor: Danny Hakim A demonstration against World No Tobacco Day in Jakarta, Indonesia, in 2013. The U.S. Chamber of Commerce and its foreign affiliates have joined efforts to fight antismoking laws around the world. Credit Romeo Gacad/Agence France-Presse — Getty Images KIEV, Ukraine — A parliamentary hearing was convened here in March to consider an odd remnant of Ukraine’s corrupt, pre-revolutionary government. Three years ago, Ukraine filed an international legal challenge against Australia, over Australia’s right to enact antismoking laws on its own soil. To a number of lawmakers, the case seemed absurd, and they wanted to investigate why it was even being pursued. When it came time to defend the tobacco industry, a man named Taras Kachka spoke up. He argued that several “fantastic tobacco companies” had bought up Soviet-era factories and modernized them, and now they were exporting tobacco to many other countries. It was in Ukraine’s national interest, he said, to support investors in the country, even though they do not sell tobacco to Australia. Mr. Kachka was not a tobacco lobbyist or farmer or factory owner. He was the head of a Ukrainian affiliate of the U.S. Chamber of Commerce, America’s largest trade group. From Ukraine to Uruguay, Moldova to the Philippines, the U.S. Chamber of Commerce and its foreign affiliates have become the hammer for the tobacco industry, engaging in a worldwide effort to fight antismoking laws of all kinds, according to interviews with government ministers, lobbyists, lawmakers and public health groups in Asia, [...]

Oral Cancer Foundation News Team - A2015-06-30T09:53:56-07:00June, 2015|Oral Cancer News|

DNA shed from head and neck tumors detected in blood and saliva

Source: www.medicalexpress.comAuthor: Wang et al., Science Translational Medicine (2015) Schematic showing the shedding of tumor DNA from head and neck cancers into the saliva or plasma. Tumors from various anatomic locations shed DNA fragments containing tumor-specific mutations and human papillomavirus DNA into the saliva or the circulation. The detectability of tumor DNA in the saliva varied with anatomic location of the tumor, with the highest sensitivity for oral cavity cancers. The detectability in plasma varied much less in regard to the tumor’s anatomic location. Credit: Wang et al., Science Translational Medicine (2015) On the hunt for better cancer screening tests, Johns Hopkins scientists led a proof of principle study that successfully identified tumor DNA shed into the blood and saliva of 93 patients with head and neck cancer. A report on the findings is published in the June 24 issue of Science Translational Medicine. "We have shown that tumor DNA in the blood or saliva can successfully be measured for these cancers," says Nishant Agrawal, M.D., associate professor of otolaryngology—head and neck surgery—and of oncology at the Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine. "In our study, testing saliva seemed to be the best way to detect cancers in the oral cavity, and blood tests appeared to find more cancers in the larynx, hypopharynx and oropharynx. However, combining blood and saliva tests may offer the best chance of finding cancer in any of those regions." Agrawal explains that inborn genetic predispositions for most head and neck cancers are rare, but [...]

Oral Cancer Foundation News Team - A2015-06-25T16:43:35-07:00June, 2015|Oral Cancer News|

The Cost of Cancer Drugs

Source: www.cbsnew.comAuthor: Lesley Stahl The following is a script of "The Cost of Cancer Drugs" which aired on October 5, 2014, and was rebroadcast on June 21, 2015. Lesley Stahl is the correspondent. Richard Bonin, producer. Cancer is so pervasive that it touches virtually every family in this country. More than one out of three Americans will be diagnosed with some form of it in their lifetime. And as anyone who's been through it knows, the shock and anxiety of the diagnosis is followed by a second jolt: the high price of cancer drugs. They are so astronomical that a growing number of patients can't afford their co-pay, the percentage of their drug bill they have to pay out-of-pocket. As we first reported in October, this has led to a revolt against the drug companies led by some of the most prominent cancer doctors in the country. Dr. Leonard Saltz: We're in a situation where a cancer diagnosis is one of the leading causes of personal bankruptcy. Dr. Leonard Saltz is chief of gastrointestinal oncology at Memorial Sloan Kettering, one of the nation's premier cancer centers, and he's a leading expert on colon cancer. Lesley Stahl: So, are you saying in effect, that we have to start treating the cost of these drugs almost like a side effect from cancer? Dr. Leonard Saltz: I think that's a fair way of looking at it. We're starting to see the term "financial toxicity" being used in the literature. Individual patients are going into [...]

Oral Cancer Foundation News Team - A2015-06-22T11:00:30-07:00June, 2015|Oral Cancer News|

Cancer-associated fibroblasts provide a suitable microenvironment for tumor development and progression in oral tongue squamous cancer

Source: 7thspace.com Author: LiJi Huan et al Oral tongue squamous cell carcinoma (OTSCC) is still associated with a poor prognosis due to local recurrence and metastasis. Cancer-associated fibroblasts (CAFs) play an important role in the complex processes of cancer stroma interaction and tumorigenesis. This study aims to determine the role of CAFs in the development and progression of OTSCC. Methods: Immunohistochemistry was performed to evaluate the frequency and distribution of CAFs in 178 paraffin specimens from patients with OTSCC. Immunofluorescence, a cell proliferation assay, flow cytometry, migration and invasion assays and western blot analysis were used to study the effects of CAFs and the corresponding conditioned medium (CM) on the proliferation and invasion of OTSCC cell lines. Results: Statistical analysis showed a strong correlation between the frequency and distribution of CAFs and the clinicopathological characteristics of patients with cN0 OTSCC, including pathological stage (PÂ =Â 0.001), T classification (PÂ =Â 0.001), and N classification (PÂ =Â 0.009). Survival analysis demonstrated a negative correlation of the frequency and distribution of CAFs with the overall survival and disease-free survival of patients with cN0 tongue squamous cell cancer (PÂ =Â 0.009, 0.002, respectively); Cox regression analysis showed that the presence of CAFs (relative risk: 2.113, CI 1.461-3.015, PÂ =Â 0.023) is an independent prognostic factor. A functional study demonstrated that CAFs and CM from CAFs could promote the growth, proliferation, mobility, invasion and even Epithelial Mesenchymal Transition (EMT) of OTSCC cells compared with NFs and CM from NFs. Conclusions: CAFs were an independent [...]

Oral Cancer Foundation News Team - A2015-06-21T17:18:18-07:00June, 2015|Oral Cancer News|

HPV16 Antibodies Signal Even Better Oral Cancer Outcomes

Source: www.medscape.comAuthor: Neil Osterweil Another prognostic tool may be in the offing for clinicians to use in evaluating patients with oropharyngeal cancers, new research suggests. The presence in serum of three antibodies to human papillomavirus type 16 (HPV16) was predictive of better progression-free and overall survival in these patients, according to Kristina R. Dahlstrom, PhD, from the University of Texas MD Anderson Cancer Center, in Houston, and colleagues. Patients whose serum was positive for the presence of three specific antibodies to "early" (E) proteins involved in replication and growth of HPV16 had dramatically better rates of overall survival (OS) and progression-free survival (PFS) compared with patients whose serum was negative for the antibodies, they reported online June 15 in Clinical Cancer Research. Specifically, for those patients whose serum was positive for any E antibodies, 5-year estimated OS was 87.4%, compared with 42.2% for patients whose sereum was negative for all E antibodies (P < .001). The respective 5-year PFS rates were 82.9% and 46.1% (P < .001). "These results hint at a prognostic stratification of patients with HPV-related oropharynx cancer reflecting humoral immune response to HPV type 16 E proteins and thus may help in choosing immunotherapy approaches for such patients in future," said senior author Erich M. Sturgis, MD, MPH, a surgeon at MD Anderson, in comments to Medscape Medical News. Currently, the serology results are not strong enough to be used as clinical decision tools for choosing current therapies, she added. Their findings also suggest that vaccine-based immunotherapy targeted [...]

Oral Cancer Foundation News Team - A2015-06-17T16:33:41-07:00June, 2015|Oral Cancer News|

Professional Rodeo Competitors Join Fight Against Oral Cancer

Source: www.upr.orgAuthor: Melissa Allison The number of oral cancer deaths related to tobacco use is on the rise nationwide according to the Oral Cancer Foundation. Brian Hill is the founder of the OCF and a survivor of the disease. Cody Kiser encourages the youth to not start using tobacco to help secure good health. Oral Cancer Foundation “Up until about (the year) 2000 this was primarily a disease of older men who had smoked a lot or chewed tobacco during their lifetime,” Hill said. “About that point in time we started to see a shift in the cause of the disease.” Hill said tobacco is still a primary cause of oral cancers and adds that the oral human papillomavirus type 16 (HPV16) is new etiology that has forced the number of cases to accelerate. According to an October 2014 study by Johns Hopkins researchers the HPV16 causes cancers of the mouth and throat and that any form of tobacco use increases the risk of the virus. The research suggests as few as three cigarettes a day can increase the risk of infection by almost one-third. Hill created the foundation in 1999 to promote change by educating the public about risk factors that contribute to the disease. Among those risks is the use of spit tobacco. “The world of rodeo has been the realm of sponsorship by the tobacco industry for decades,” Hill said. “With the nicotine content in a can of dip equaling approximately that of 80 cigarettes, this addiction [...]

Oral Cancer Foundation News Team - A2015-06-17T10:23:34-07:00June, 2015|OCF In The News, Oral Cancer News|

Single Dose of HPV-16/18 Vaccine Looks to Be Sufficient

Source: www.medscape.comAuthor: Jenni Laidman A single dose of a vaccine against human papillomavirus (HPV) may prevent cervical cancer as effectively as the standard three-dose regimen, researchers concluded after analyzing the combined results of two large vaccine trials. The HPV vaccine in these studies was Cervarix (GlaxoSmithKline), which is effective against HPV strains 16/18. If randomized controlled trials ultimately support the result of this post hoc analysis, it could broaden protection against cervical cancer in areas of the world where vaccination programs are hardest to administer and where cervical cancer is disproportionately burdensome, the study authors say. "Even if you ignore the expense, the feasibility of implementing and getting back to individuals for a second and third dose is quite challenging, especially in places where there is no infrastructure," coauthor Cosette Wheeler, PhD, Regents Professor, Pathology and Obstetrics and Gynecology, University of New Mexico Health Sciences Center in Albuquerque, told Medscape Medical News. The studies are published online June 10 in the Lancet Oncology. The possibility of a single-dose HPV vaccine is "a huge public health win," coauthor Aimée R. Kreimer, PhD, Investigator, Division of Cancer Epidemiology & Genetics, National Cancer Institute, Bethesda, Maryland, told Medscape Medical News. "Even if one dose protects only against HPV types included in the vaccine formulation, if we vaccinated most girls, we would have the chance to reduce cervical cancer by around 75%." That's the exciting part, Dr Wheeler added. "If we're able to achieve success with one dose, or frankly even with two doses, that makes the possibility [...]

Oral Cancer Foundation News Team - A2015-06-15T12:33:51-07:00June, 2015|Oral Cancer News|