Oral Cancer News – Page 155 – The Oral Cancer Foundation News Archive

The danger in smokeless tobacco products

Source: www.observer.ug (Uganda, Africa) Author: Racheal Ninsiima Tobacco use is the single most preventable cause of death among adults and is a significant factor for several mouth, throat, lung and heart diseases. It is also a major contributor to morbidity. Globally, the World Health Organisation (WHO) estimates that tobacco causes about 71% of lung cancer, 42% of chronic respiratory diseases, 20% of global tuberculosis incidence and nearly 10% of cardiovascular diseases. But the issue of smokeless products that contain tobacco has for long been ignored. According to Dr Sheila Ndyanabangi, the tobacco control focal point person at the ministry of Health, schoolchildren are also consuming the products. This is because sometimes the ingredients are written in foreign languages which may not be understood by the consumers. What is smokeless tobacco? There are two basic forms of smokeless tobacco: snuff and chewing tobacco. An article ‘smokeless tobacco and how to quit’ on the website www.cancer.org, says snuff is finely ground tobacco packaged in cans and is sold either dry or moist. The nicotine in the snuff is absorbed through the tissues of the mouth as it is placed between the cheek and gum. Snuff is designed to be both “Smoke-free” and “spit-free” and is marketed as a discreet way to use tobacco. Chewed tobacco comes along as long strands of tobacco leaves that are chewed by the user who thereafter spits out the brown liquid (saliva mixed with tobacco). Types of smokeless tobacco Mouth fresheners: The commonest is Kuber. It is [...]

Oral Cancer Foundation News Team - A2012-07-04T10:33:00-07:00July, 2012|Oral Cancer News|

Protein could provide target for new mouth cancer drugs

Source: www.netdoctor.co.uk Author: staff A protein that is overactive in mouth cancer could provide a new target for the development of drugs against the disease, researchers say. Scientists at Cancer Research UK's Cambridge Research Institute have discovered that a protein called FRMD4A is permanently switched on in cancer. Furthermore, the higher the levels of this protein, the more likely the disease is to spread and come back following treatment. Tests carried out in mice have revealed that by blocking FRMD4A, it may be possible to prevent mouth cancer from growing and spreading. Dr Stephen Goldie, whose findings are published in the journal Cancer Research, said: 'What's really exciting about this research is that we already have potential drugs that can be used to target this protein or compensate for the effects that it is having. 'These drugs could offer new options to patients where surgery and chemotherapy hasn't worked or could be used alongside them.' The research team now plan to carry out clinical trials involving these drugs to see if they work in patients with head and neck squamous cell carcinoma - a particularly aggressive form of mouth cancer. There are various types of mouth cancer which affect more than 5,300 people in the UK each year.

Oral Cancer Foundation News Team - A2012-07-03T17:47:55-07:00July, 2012|Oral Cancer News|

Facing the facts: HPV-associated head and neck cancers get a second look

Source: www.curetoday.com Author: Charlotte Huff Kevin Pruyne knew he didn’t fit the stereotype of a hard drinker or heavy smoker who one day develops an oral cancer. The 52-year-old mechanic had been working a three-week stint in a remote section of northern Alaska, repairing trucks on an oil field, when he noticed a hard lump beneath his jaw while shaving. For nearly three months, as Pruyne was prescribed antibiotics for a possible infection and then later shuttled between physician specialists, he kept hearing the same thing: the lump could not be cancer. Pruyne only occasionally consumed alcohol and had never smoked. His wife, Kathy, began researching her husband’s symptoms, which included repetitive throat clearing, a nagging sensation that something was lodged in his throat and ringing in his ears. And the lump, which looked like the top half of an egg, felt solid to the touch. This wasn’t some inflamed lymph node from a lingering head cold, Kathy Pruyne says. “He had every symptom [of cancer], but nobody would listen to me.” Pruyne received a diagnosis of stage 4 oral cancer, which started with a tumor at the base of his tongue. He had already begun chemotherapy when he learned that researchers had discovered an association between the human papillomavirus (HPV) and increasing rates of oropharyngeal cancers. He asked that his tissue be tested; the results came back positive. Pruyne says he wanted to know whether his cancer was caused by HPV because “the prognosis is considerably better with HPV-positive cancer.” [...]

Oral Cancer Foundation News Team - A2012-07-03T17:34:09-07:00July, 2012|Oral Cancer News|

Perspectives on Coping Among Patients With Head and Neck Cancer Receiving Radiation

Source: MedScape News Today Abstract and Introduction Abstract Purpose/Objectives: To describe coping among patients with laryngeal and oropharyngeal cancer during definitive radiation with or without chemotherapy. Research Approach: Qualitative content analysis conducted within a larger study. Setting: Two radiation oncology outpatient clinics in Baltimore, MD. Participants: 21 patients with oropharyngeal or laryngeal cancer. Methodologic Approach: Interviews with open-ended questions were conducted during treatment. Questions covered topics such as coping during treatment, treatment-related issues, and resources. Main Research Variables: Coping, treatment, and coping resources. Findings: Patients' self-assessments suggested they were coping or that coping was rough or upsetting. Issues that required coping varied over four time points. Physical side effects were problematic during and one month after treatment completion. Patients used coping to manage the uncertainties of physical and psychological aspects of their experience. Family and friend support was a common coping strategy used by patients, with the intensity of side effects corresponding with the support provided across time points. Conclusions: Findings confirm previous research, but also provide new information about ways in which patients with head and neck cancer cope with their illness experience. Emergent themes provide insight into patients' feelings, issues, and assistance received with coping. Interpretation: Patients with head and neck cancer need education on the amount and severity of side effects and should be appraised of potential difficulties with scheduling, driving, and other logistic issues. Patients also should be informed of helpful types of support and coping strategies. Additional research is needed to expand the findings related [...]

Charlotte Parker2012-06-27T10:08:59-07:00June, 2012|Oral Cancer News|

Study links gum disease, HPV-status of head and neck cancer

Source: www.buffalo.edu/ubreporter Author: Sara R. Saldi Human Papilloma Virus (HPV), once almost exclusively associated with cancer of the cervix, is now linked to head and neck cancer. Furthermore, according to a new UB study just published in the Archives of Otolaryngology—Head & Neck Surgery, a JAMA publication, gum disease is associated with increased odds of tumors being HPV-positive. Primary investigator Mine Tezal, assistant professor of oral biology in the School of Dental Medicine, and a team of scientists from UB evaluated data from 124 patients diagnosed with primary head and neck squamous cell carcinoma (HNSCC) between 1999 and 2007. “The aim of the study was to test the presence of periodontitis, a persistent inflammatory process and HPV-status of HNSCC,” Tezal says. Of the 124 tumor samples Tezal and her team studied, 50 were positive for HPV-16 DNA and that subjects with HPV-positive tumors had a significantly higher severity of periodontitis when compared to subjects with HPV-negative tumors. According to the National Cancer Institute, there has been a steady increase in the prevalence of oropharyngeal cancers in the U.S. since 1973. This is despite the significant decline in tobacco use since 1965, a year after the U.S. Surgeon General issued the landmark Report on Smoking and Health. Tezal notes that this increase has mainly been attributed to oral HPV infection. Understanding the natural history of the oral HPV infection and targeting factors associated not only with its acquisition but also with its persistence, says Tezal, will lead to more effective strategies, [...]

Oral Cancer Foundation News Team - A2012-06-22T21:24:45-07:00June, 2012|Oral Cancer News|

Gruesome images on cigarette packs seem to be working

Source: http://www.winnipegfreepress.com/ Sometimes it takes a good swift kick to open a person's eyes. That's the federal government's strategy in its "scared straight" campaign urging Canadians to butt out by forcing tobacco companies to adorn their addictive products with gruesome images showing the consequences of smoking. The graphic pictures include that of a human tongue rotting in the mouth of a person inflicted with mouth cancer. Other images portray cancer victims, literally human skeletons, at various stages of cancer with the Grim Reaper knocking at their back door. Another shows a man with a hole in his neck -- a victim of throat cancer -- through which he now breathes. His message on the smoke pack: "I wish I had never started smoking." It's a frank message that had to be brought home, and it's apparently working. Statistics Canada reported this week smoking rates have dropped dramatically in the last 10 years, with steep declines in the number of teen smokers. Ottawa credits, in part, its mandatory, graphic anti-smoking packaging for tobacco products. The new rules became official Tuesday. Tobacco companies must now label three-quarters of a cigarette package with grisly pictures showing the horrific consequences of smoking. The image of an emaciated, cancer-stricken Barb Tarbox, curled up in a fetal position in a hospital bed not long before her death, takes up three-quarters of some of the packages. Tarbox became well-known as a powerful anti-smoking activist who, while inflicted with brain and lung cancers, gave numerous public [...]

Oral Cancer Foundation News Team - A2012-06-22T21:18:49-07:00June, 2012|Oral Cancer News|

Electrochemical sensor spots oral cancer

Source: cen.acs.org Author: Erika Gebel Medical Diagnostics: A simple and inexpensive device detects multiple cancer biomarkers When doctors spot cancerous lesions in patients’ mouths, it’s often too late: The disease has already reached a difficult-to-treat stage. As a result, oral cancer has a high death rate. To help doctors catch the disease earlier, researchers have developed a simple, low-cost method to identify multiple oral cancer biomarkers at once (Anal. Chem., DOI: 10.1021/ac301392g). Scientists previously have shown that oral cancer patients have altered levels of several proteins, including vascular endothelial growth factor C (VEGF-C), in their blood (J. Clin. Pathol., DOI: 10.1136/jcp.2007.047662). Doctors would like to use these biomarkers to diagnose the disease. But James Rusling of the University of Connecticut, Storrs, says that to improve diagnostic accuracy, it’s necessary to detect multiple proteins at once. What’s more, current technology can’t easily measure subtle changes in the low concentrations of these proteins found in patients’ blood. Such tests would require trained technicians and expensive equipment, such as spectrometers, that most clinics don’t have. Rusling and his colleagues, including J. Silvio Gutkind of the National Institutes of Health, wanted to develop a low-cost test doctors could easily use. The team built a device that can measure concentrations of multiple biomarker proteins at once through easy-to-read electrical signals. For each protein they want to detect, the scientists use two antibodies that each bind to a different part of the biomarker. One antibody decorates magnetic microbeads. The team also coats these microbeads [...]

Oral Cancer Foundation News Team - A2012-06-22T21:11:32-07:00June, 2012|Oral Cancer News|

Darwin’s Principles Say Cancer Will Always Evolve to Resist Treatment

Source: ScienceDaily.com According to researchers at Moffitt Cancer Center, cancer is subject to the evolutionary processes laid out by Charles Darwin in his concept of natural selection. Natural selection was the process identified by Darwin by which nature selects certain physical attributes, or phenotypes, to pass on to offspring to better "fit" the organism to the environment. As applied to cancer, natural selection, a key principle of modern biology, suggests that malignancies in distinct "microhabitats" promote the evolution of resistance to therapies. However, these same evolutionary principles of natural selection can be applied to successfully manage cancer, say Moffitt researchers who published an opinion piece in a recent issue of Nature Reviews Cancer. "Understanding cancer as a disease starts with identifying crucial environmental forces and corresponding adaptive cellular strategies," said Robert A. Gatenby, M.D., chair of the Department of Diagnostic Imaging. "Cancer is driven by environmental selection forces that interact with individual cellular adaptive strategies." Cancer cell development, like any natural selection (or Darwinian) process, is governed by environmental selection forces and cellular adaptive strategies, the authors wrote. Investigating cancer and its proliferation through genetic changes and ignoring the adaptive landscape is most likely futile. Under "selective pressure" of chemotherapy, in this case the "adaptive landscape," resistant populations of cancer cells invariably evolve. The authors say that tumors can be thought of as "continents" populated by multiple cellular species that adapt to regional variations in environmental selection forces. Their strategy in offering this metaphor, they wrote, is to "integrate microenvironmental [...]

Charlotte Parker2012-06-22T12:53:19-07:00June, 2012|Oral Cancer News|

More On Why The Adverse Event Reports On Gardasil Don’t Point To A Problem

Source: Forbes.com Readers are still commenting on my post on why the adverse event reports on Gardasil seem to indicate the vaccine is safe. One particularly persuasive line of comment comes from reader Stephanie Rehak, who does some reporting for me. Basically, she points out, many of these reports are third-hand and for problems that a vaccine would be unlikely to cause. Rehak writes: Have you read through the (currently) 107 reports of death on VAERS tied to Gardasil? It’s well worth the read. The first page has mostly cases of death with other underlying factors that contributed to the patient’s death (congenital heart disease, seizure disorders, DVT in patients taking Yaz BCP). The further in you get the crazier it becomes. There are several fourth and fifth hand reports such as VAERS ID 344385 “Information has been received from an office manager that the physician heard from the physician”s colleague that a 16 year old female colleague”s patient was given an unspecified dose of GARDASIL (Lot not reported) on a Friday and on Monday the patient passed away (specific dates were unknown).” There are at least a dozen regarding cases the reporter read about on the internet, heard about on the radio or saw on TV, like 383175 “Information has been received from a consumer via an internet newspaper concerning a patient who on an unspecified date was vaccinated with a dose of GARDASIL… It was also reported that polysorbato 80 or tween 80 that is a chemical that causes [...]

Charlotte Parker2012-06-21T09:33:11-07:00June, 2012|Oral Cancer News|

Facing the Facts: HPV-Associated Head and Neck Cancers Get a Second Look

Source: CureToday.com HPV causes surge in oral cancer rates. Kevin Pruyne knew he didn’t fit the stereotype of a hard drinker or heavy smoker who one day develops an oral cancer. The 52-year-old mechanic had been working a three-week stint in a remote section of northern Alaska, repairing trucks on an oil field, when he noticed a hard lump beneath his jaw while shaving. For nearly three months, as Pruyne was prescribed antibiotics for a possible infection and then later shuttled between physician specialists, he kept hearing the same thing: the lump could not be cancer. Pruyne only occasionally consumed alcohol and had never smoked. His wife, Kathy, began researching her husband’s symptoms, which included repetitive throat clearing, a nagging sensation that something was lodged in his throat and ringing in his ears. And the lump, which looked like the top half of an egg, felt solid to the touch. This wasn’t some inflamed lymph node from a lingering head cold, Kathy Pruyne says. “He had every symptom [of cancer], but nobody would listen to me.” Kevin Pruyne, with his wife, Kathy, is hopeful his HPV-positive oral cancer will be cured. Photo by Rick Bacmanski. Pruyne received a diagnosis of stage 4 oral cancer, which started with a tumor at the base of his tongue. He had already begun chemotherapy when he learned that researchers had discovered an association between the human papillomavirus (HPV) and increasing rates of oropharyngeal cancers. He asked that his tissue be tested; the results came [...]

Charlotte Parker2012-06-20T12:05:38-07:00June, 2012|Oral Cancer News|