Oral Cancer News – Page 197 – The Oral Cancer Foundation News Archive

Oral Cancer Foundation breaks records in April’s Awareness and Screening Month

Source: MSNBC News Author: staff Oral cancer is an insidious disease that too often is not discovered until very late in its development, as it might not produce symptoms the average person may notice. By then treatments are less effective, and because of late discovery in far too many patients, it has a five year survival rate of only about 57%, much lower than cancers we commonly hear about. Oral cancer has existed outside the awareness of much of the public, yet it will take one life, every hour of every day in the U.S. This year the combination of unprecedented efforts by the relatively small, non-profit Oral Cancer Foundation, a coalition of strategic partners they formed, and a dose of celebrity power, created what might be called a perfect storm; and one that potentially will change public awareness of one of the few cancers that is actually increasing in incidence in the U.S. For thirteen years in a row, April has been oral cancer awareness month nationally. More than 85% of all head and neck cancers are oral and oropharyngeal disease. Historically, a loose coalition of stakeholders in the disease has mustered about 200 screening events in April in facilities ranging from large institutions to individual dental offices around the country. Those participants opened their doors for at least a half-day to opportunistically screen members of the public in their communities for free, to find early stage disease, and to raise public awareness. This year the Oral Cancer Foundation, [...]

Oral Cancer Foundation News Team - A2011-06-16T12:46:56-07:00May, 2011|OCF In The News, Oral Cancer News|

Turmeric makes head, neck cancer treatment more effective

Source: www.dailyindia.com Author: staff Researchers at the University of Michigan Comprehensive Cancer Center have found that a compound derived from curcumin helps cells overcome the treatment failure of head and neck cancer. Curcumin is the principal curcuminoid of the popular Indian spice turmeric. When researchers added a curcumin-based compound, called FLLL32, to head and neck cancer cell lines, they were able to cut the dose of the chemotherapy drug cisplatin by four while still killing tumor cells equally as well as the higher dose of cisplatin without FLLL32. "This work opens the possibility of using lower, less toxic doses of cisplatin to achieve an equivalent or enhanced tumor kill. Typically, when cells become resistant to cisplatin, we have to give increasingly higher doses. But this drug is so toxic that patients who survive treatment often experience long-term side effects from the treatment," said senior author Thomas Carey, professor of otolaryngology and pharmacology at the U-M Medical School. That tumors become resistant to cisplatin is a major reason why head and neck cancer patients frequently see their cancer return or spread. It also plays a big role in why five-year survival for head and neck cancer has not improved in the past three decades. In the current study, researchers compared varying doses of cisplatin alone with varying doses of cisplatin plus FLLL32 against two sets of head and neck cancer cells: one line that was sensitive to cisplatin and one line that was resistant. They found that FLLL32 decreased the activation [...]

Oral Cancer Foundation News Team - A2011-05-21T14:13:55-07:00May, 2011|Oral Cancer News|

A compound found in a common Indian spice boosts effectiveness of head and neck cancer treatment

Source: Science Blog A primary reason that head and neck cancer treatments fail is the tumor cells become resistant to chemotherapy drugs. Now, researchers at the University of Michigan Comprehensive Cancer Center have found that a compound derived from the Indian spice curcumin can help cells overcome that resistance. When researchers added a curcumin-based compound, called FLLL32, to head and neck cancer cell lines, they were able to cut the dose of the chemotherapy drug cisplatin by four while still killing tumor cells equally as well as the higher dose of cisplatin without FLLL32. The study appears this week in the Archives of Otolaryngology — Head and Neck Surgery. “This work opens the possibility of using lower, less toxic doses of cisplatin to achieve an equivalent or enhanced tumor kill. Typically, when cells become resistant to cisplatin, we have to give increasingly higher doses. But this drug is so toxic that patients who survive treatment often experience long-term side effects from the treatment,” says senior study author Thomas Carey, Ph.D., professor of otolaryngology and pharmacology at the U-M Medical School and co-director of the Head and Neck Oncology Program at the U-M Comprehensive Cancer Center. That tumors become resistant to cisplatin is a major reason why head and neck cancer patients frequently see their cancer return or spread. It also plays a big role in why five-year survival for head and neck cancer has not improved in the past three decades. FLLL32 is designed to sensitize cancer cells at a [...]

Oral Cancer Foundation News Team - A2011-05-20T10:07:30-07:00May, 2011|Oral Cancer News|

Dentist is out $80k for legal fees in Yelp case

Source: Dr.Bicuspid.com A California dentist who lost a defamation case over negative reviews on Yelp.com must pay $80,000 in attorney fees to a young patient's parents, whom she sued, according to a court ruling issued May 12. In January 2009, San Francisco Bay Area dentist Yvonne Wong, DDS, filed a lawsuit against Tai Jing and Jia Ma, the parents of a young patient who had been treated by Dr. Wong, after the father posted a negative review on Yelp.com. Dr. Wong contended that the review defamed her by implying that she didn't inform the boy's parents about alternatives to the use of amalgam and nitrous oxide and didn't spot cavities that needed treatment. She also named Yelp in the suit. The key issue in the case was whether the review stepped over the line from discussing a topic of public interest to defamation. Dr. Wong subsequently won the first round of the legal wrangling when a judge ruled the case had sufficient legal merit to be tried. The case then went to an appellate court, which found that consumers can post reviews of businesses on websites such as Yelp.com because they contribute to public discussion about controversial issues such as the use of dental amalgam. That ruling found that the Yelp review was protected under California's anti-SLAPP (Strategic Lawsuit Against Public Participation) law, which preserves the right to speak out on public issues. As a result, all claims against Yelp, Jing, and Ma were dismissed. Now Santa Clara Superior Court [...]

Oral Cancer Foundation News Team - A2011-05-19T13:59:49-07:00May, 2011|Oral Cancer News|

Yale School of Medicine Researchers take a closer look at “smart drugs”

Source: Yale University Some of the most effective and expensive cancer drugs, dubbed "smart drugs" for their ability to stop tumors by targeting key drivers of cancer cell growth, are not effective in some patients. In two related studies, Yale School of Medicine researchers examined one such driver, the EGF receptor (EGFR), and found that a decoy receptor might be limiting the amount of drug that gets to the intended target. "We know that smart drugs like Cetuximab are not always effective in the cancer cells they're supposed to target because there are no positive predictive markers for selecting the patients who will benefit from treatment with EGFR-targeted therapies, including EGFR itself," said lead author Nita Maihle, professor in the Departments of Obstetrics, Gynecology & Reproductive Sciences and of Pathology at Yale School of Medicine. "Why would a patient be given an expensive drug if it doesn't work? Our studies provide new insight into this paradoxical EGFR testing conundrum." In a study published recently in the journal Cancer, Maihle and her team isolated a protein from human blood that looks like EGFR, but is actually a closely related variant called serum sEGFR. They showed that Cetuximab binds equally as well to serum sEGFR as it does to the intended EGFR cancer target. Those study results showed that sEGFR might act as a decoy receptor in the blood of cancer patients, tying up Cetuximab and therefore limiting the amount of Cetuximab that actually gets to the intended target. Such limitations may, [...]

Oral Cancer Foundation News Team - A2011-05-19T13:43:34-07:00May, 2011|Oral Cancer News|

Two Elements Predict Swallowing Difficulties after Radiotherapy

Source: International Medicine News LONDON – Nonglottic cancer and the presence of dysphagia before treatment are highly predictive for severe acute and late swallowing difficulties after radiotherapy for head and neck cancer, according to new data from the DAHANCA 6&7 randomized trial. Patients with nonglottic cancer were more likely than those with other cancer types to experience severe dysphagia at both 6 and 12 months. Dysphagia before treatment was also associated with both acute and late severe swallowing difficulties. "The peak incidence of dysphagia is seen during the first 6 months after radiotherapy," Hanna Rahbek Mortensen, Ph.D., reported in an analysis of the DAHANCA (Danish Head and Neck Cancer Group) 6&7 trial findings at the European Society for Therapeutic Radiation Oncology Anniversary Congress. "After 1 year, however, there is no further increase in severity or prevalence," said Dr. Mortensen of the department of experimental clinical oncology at Åarhus (Denmark) University Hospital. The trial involved 1,478 patients with squamous cell carcinomas of the glottic larynx, supraglottic larynx, pharynx, or oral cavity who were who were treated with five or six weekly fractions of radiotherapy in 1992-1999. The total dose of radiotherapy delivered was 66-68 Gy in 33-34 fractions. Efficacy data from the trial have already been published; they showed improved disease-specific but not overall survival of five vs. six fractions of radiotherapy (Lancet 2003;362:933-40). The aim of the present analysis was to use prospectively collected data from the trial to determine whether any factors could be used to establish which patients [...]

Oral Cancer Foundation News Team - A2011-05-18T13:29:04-07:00May, 2011|Oral Cancer News|

Low-Dose Sorafenib may Boost Treatment for Head and Neck Cancer

Source: Darrell E. Ward Ohio State University Medical Center Adding low doses of the targeted agent sorafenib to the chemotherapy and radiation now often used to treat head and neck cancer might significantly improve patient care and quality of life, according to a new study by researchers at the Ohio State University Comprehensive Cancer Center-Arthur G. James Cancer Hospital and Richard J. Solove Research Institute (OSUCCC - James). The findings suggest that adding sorafenib would maintain treatment efficacy while permitting the use of lower doses of chemotherapy and radiation and decreasing the treatment's harsh side effects. The triple combination was well-tolerated in an animal model. About 49,200 new cases of head and neck cancer are expected in the U.S. this year, and 11,500 people are expected to die of the disease. Treatment is often unsuccessful because the tumors become resistant to both chemotherapy and radiation therapy. "This pre-clinical study suggests that using low-dose sorafenib along with chemotherapy and radiation could have significantly milder side effects while maintaining effectiveness," says researcher and principal investigator Dr. Pawan Kumar, assistant professor of otolaryngology and a neck surgeon at the OSUCCC - James. "Our findings provide a scientific rationale to evaluate this combination strategy through a clinical trial," Kumar added. The results of the laboratory and animal study are published online in the journal Molecular Cancer Therapeutics, and they include the following: Sorafenib sensitized tumor cells to chemotherapy and radiation treatment by down-regulating DNA repair proteins (ERCC-1 and XRCC-1), and it decreased tumor angiogenesis [...]

Oral Cancer Foundation News Team - A2011-05-18T13:14:39-07:00May, 2011|Oral Cancer News|

Sensitization of Head and Neck Cancer to Cisplatin Through the Use of a Novel Curcumin Analog

Source: EthiconEndo-Surgery.com Objective To determine whether a novel small molecule inhibitor derived from curcumin (FLLL32) that targets signal transducer and activator of transcription (STAT) 3 would induce cytotoxic effects in STAT3-dependent head and neck squamous cell cancer (HNSCC) cells and would sensitize tumors to cisplatin. Design Basic science. Two HNSCC cell lines, UM-SCC-29 and UM-SCC-74B, were characterized for cisplatin [cis-diammineplatinum(II) dichloride] sensitivity. Baseline expression of STAT3 and other apoptosis proteins was determined. The FLLL32 50% inhibitory concentration (IC50) dose was determined for each cell line, and the effect of FLLL32 treatment on the expression of phosphorylated STAT3 and other key proteins was elucidated. The antitumor efficacy of cisplatin, FLLL32, and combination treatment was measured. The proportion of apoptotic cells after cisplatin, FLLL32, or combination therapy was determined. Results The UM-SCC-29 cell line is cisplatin resistant, and the UM-SCC-74B cell line is cisplatin sensitive. Both cell lines express STAT3, phosphorylated STAT3 (pSTAT3), and key apoptotic proteins. FLLL32 downregulates the active form of STAT3, pSTAT3, in HNSCC cells and induces a potent antitumor effect. FLLL32, alone or with cisplatin, increases the proportion of apoptotic cells. FLLL32 sensitized cisplatin-resistant cancer cells, achieving an equivalent tumor kill with a 4-fold lower dose of cisplatin. Conclusions FLLL32 monotherapy induces a potent antitumor effect and sensitizes cancer cells to cisplatin, permitting an equivalent or improved antitumor effect at lower doses of cisplatin. Our results suggest that FLLL32 acts by inhibiting STAT3 phosphorylation, reduced survival signaling, increased susceptibility to apoptosis, and sensitization to cisplatin.

Oral Cancer Foundation News Team - A2011-05-17T11:21:32-07:00May, 2011|Oral Cancer News|

UCSF Professor of Oral Medicine speaks about Oral Cancer

Source: Dr.Bicuspid.com May 17, 2011 -- DrBicuspid.com is pleased to present a new feature series, Leaders in Dentistry, a series of interviews with researchers, practitioners, and opinion leaders who are influencing the practice of dentistry. For the first installment, we spoke with Sol Silverman Jr., DDS, a professor of oral medicine in the University of California, San Francisco (UCSF) School of Dentistry and head of one of the oral medicine clinics at UCSF. In addition to seeing patients in the clinic, his research is focused on the diagnosis and treatment of precancerous lesions, as well as effective anti-inflammatory agents for autoimmune diseases that do not have adverse side effects. An advocate for the prevention and early detection of oral cancer and an expert in the treatment of oral cancers, Dr. Silverman has helped develop training programs for dentists to better detect oral cancer and education programs on smoking cessation to reduce the risk of oral cancer. Sol Silverman, DDS, University of California, San Francisco School of Dentistry. Image courtesy of the University of California, San Francisco. DrBicuspid: What is the greatest challenge we face today regarding oral cancer? Dr. Silverman: Professional and public education. The No. 1 thing for professionals is to perform examinations and pursue any deviations from normal signs and/or symptoms and to take part in their patients' lives. If they have a patient who smokes, they should try to get them to stop smoking or tell them not to start. On the other hand, it's public education. [...]

Oral Cancer Foundation News Team - A2011-05-17T18:33:10-07:00May, 2011|Oral Cancer News|

The Diary of a Mouth Cancer Survivor

Latest figures say 30% of the population will get cancer at some stage in their lives. When this happened to photographer, Keith Hern, he wrote about the experience and photographed his treatment. Bangers & Mash is the resultant book in which Keith gives a detailed account of everything from teh mental trauma of diagnosis to the harsh side-effects, to the sheer relief of getting the all-clear. Bangers & Mash is no ordinary life story – it's a tourist's guide to cancer treatment in both words and pictures. 'Being treated for cancer is like being in a foreign country' is how author Keith Hern puts it, 'and what you really need is a guidebook'. Early on in Keith's battle against throat cancer he began to keep a diary but, being a photographer, Keith's diary is in pictures as well as words. Recruiting amused nurses and tolerant radiographers to hold the camera, Keith's book de-mystifies cancer treatment and chronicles every step of the way back to health. Not always a comfortable read, Bangers & Mash is fast-paced and completely compelling but, most importantly, is intended to help patients and their families understand "what they are in for'. The big lesson is that it's not all bad. The book doesn't pull any punches, but you do learn how it is possible to live through the treatment and get on with your life. The book has already been widely circulated through the nursing staff at the Royal Marsden hospital where Keith was treated, is [...]

Oral Cancer Foundation News Team - A2011-05-17T10:19:37-07:00May, 2011|Oral Cancer News|