Oral Cancer News – Page 300 – The Oral Cancer Foundation News Archive

Prognostic factors for survival after salvage reirradiation of head and neck cancer

Source: Journal of Clinical Oncology, Vol 27, No 12 (April 20), 2009: pp. 1983-1991 Authors: Tawee Tanvetyanon et al. Purpose: Patients who develop recurrent or new primary head and neck cancer in a previously irradiated site have poor prognosis. Reirradiation is a treatment option, although it is associated with substantial toxicities. We investigated potential prognostic factors, including comorbidity and pre-existing organ dysfunction, for survival after reirradiation. Methods: Institutional electronic records of patients treated with reirradiation between January 1998 and 2008 were reviewed. Comorbidity was assessed by Charlson index and Adult Comorbidity Evaluation-27 (ACE-27) grading. Organ dysfunction was defined as feeding tube dependency, functioning tracheostomy, or soft tissue defect. Results: There were 103 patients, including 46 patients who underwent salvage surgery before reirradiation. Median progression-free and overall survivals were 12.1 months (95% CI, 9.7 to 16.6) and 19.3 months (95% CI, 13.9 to 29.9), respectively. Significant comorbidity was present in 36% of patients by Charlson index and 24% by ACE-27. Baseline organ dysfunction was present in 37% of patients. Median overall survivals were 5.5 months among those with both organ dysfunction and comorbidity per Charlson index, and 4.9 months per ACE-27, compared with 59.6 and 44.2 months, respectively, among the patients with neither organ dysfunction nor comorbidity (P

Oral Cancer Foundation News Team - A2009-04-17T12:31:32-07:00April, 2009|Oral Cancer News|

Effect of HPV-associated p16INK4A expression on response to radiotherapy and survival in squamous cell carcinoma of the head and neck

Source: Journal of Clinical Oncology, Vol 27, No 12 (April 20), 2009: pp. 1992-1998 Authors: Pernille Lassen et al. Purpose: A subset of head and neck cancers is associated with the human papillomavirus (HPV). Viral infection is closely correlated with expression of p16INK4A in these tumors. We evaluated p16INK4A as a prognostic marker of treatment response and survival in a well-defined and prospectively collected cohort of patients treated solely with conventional radiotherapy in the Danish Head and Neck Cancer Group (DAHANCA) 5 trial. Patients and Methods: Immunohistochemical expression of p16INK4A was analyzed in pretreatment paraffin-embedded tumor blocks from 156 patients treated with conventional primary radiotherapy alone. The influence of p16INK4A status on locoregional tumor control, disease-specific survival, and overall survival after radiotherapy was evaluated. Results: p16INK4A positivity was found in 35 tumors (22%). Tumor-positivity for p16INK4A was significantly correlated with improved locoregional tumor control (5-year actuarial values 58% v 28%; P = .0005), improved disease-specific survival (72% v 34%; P = .0006), and improved overall survival (62% v 26%; P = .0003). In multivariate analysis, p16INK4A remained a strong independent prognostic factor for locoregional failure (hazard ratio [HR], 0.35; 95% CI, 0.19 to 0.64), disease-specific death (HR, 0.36; 95% CI, 0.20 to 0.64), and overall death (HR, 0.44; 95% CI, 0.28 to 0.68). Conclusion: Expression of p16INK4A has a major impact on treatment response and survival in patients with head and neck cancer treated with conventional radiotherapy. Authors: Pernille Lassen, Jesper G. Eriksen, Stephen Hamilton-Dutoit, Trine Tramm, Jan Alsner, Jens [...]

Oral Cancer Foundation News Team - A2009-04-17T12:04:53-07:00April, 2009|Oral Cancer News|

Guidelines needed for optimal vitamin D supplementation in cancer patients

Source: www.medscape.com Author: Roxanne Nelson A growing amount of research suggests that vitamin D may be beneficial to cancer patients. In addition, laboratory, ecologic, and epidemiologic studies have shown some evidence that higher levels of vitamin D might lower the risk for colon, breast, endometrial, and prostate cancers. But although the "evidence is intriguing," an editorial published online April 6 in the Journal of Clinical Oncology speculates about how oncologists should disseminate this information in clinical practice. Editorialist Pamela J. Goodwin, MD, from the Samuel Lunenfeld Research Institute, Mount Sinai Hospital and Princess Margaret Hospital, in Toronto, Ontario, offers some suggestions to oncologists who are being asked to advise their patients about whether they should take vitamin D supplements. She emphasizes that her suggestions are of an interim nature. "As results of ongoing and planned research become available, many unanswered questions will be resolved, and more definitive recommendations that can be embraced by oncologists will be forthcoming," she notes in her editorial. Low Levels Noted in Breast Cancer Patients Interest in vitamin D has risen exponentially, Dr. Goodwin explains. The total number of published studies relating to vitamin D more than doubled from 1990 to November 2008, articles relating to cancer and vitamin D nearly tripled, and those specifically relating to breast cancer and vitamin D increased almost 6-fold. The editorial was prompted by a report, published in the same issue of the Journal, that, at baseline, 74% of premenopausal women with breast cancer who received adjuvant chemotherapy and participated [...]

Oral Cancer Foundation News Team - A2009-04-17T11:53:20-07:00April, 2009|Oral Cancer News|

With anti-addiction pill, ‘no urge, no craving’

Source: CNN.com Author: Caleb Hellerman CENTRAL FALLS, Rhode Island (CNN) -- A no-frills bar called Goober's, just north of Providence, Rhode Island, is probably the last place you'd expect to find a debate over cutting-edge addiction therapy. But this is where Walter Kent, a retired mechanic, spends his Fridays. He helps in the kitchen and hangs out in the bar, catching up with old friends. Walter Kent talks to Dr. Sanjay Gupta about how the drug naltrexone has helped keep him sober. Most addiction specialists would call this playing with fire, or worse. That's because for more than 30 years, Kent was a hard-core alcoholic. His drinks of choice were Heineken beer and Jacob Ginger brandy, but anything with alcohol would do. "It's like a little kid wanting a piece of candy. You see it, you want the taste of it." He closes his eyes and sniffs the air, remembering the feeling. "You can be by yourself, and all of a sudden get even a hint of alcohol, just the smell of it, and say, 'Oh, I need a drink.' That sensation is not something you can get rid of." But today, Kent isn't tempted in the least. He says the credit goes to a prescription medication -- a pill called naltrexone. It's part of a new generation of anti-addiction drugs that may turn the world of rehab on its head. Dr. Mark Willenbring, who oversees scientific research at the National Institute on Alcoholism and Alcohol Abuse, says alcoholism has reached a [...]

Charlotte Parker2009-04-17T09:49:29-07:00April, 2009|Oral Cancer News|

Oral Cancer Foundation calls for FDA authority over tobacco marketers

Source: Author: The Oral Cancer Foundation today called for the U.S. Senate to grant the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) authority over tobacco products in response to the tobacco industry's most aggressive marketing campaign targeted at women and girls in over a decade. The U.S. House of Representatives voted to give the FDA such authority approximately two weeks ago. "The percentage of oral cancer patients represented by women has increased tremendously over the past four decades, and we believe the marketing efforts of the tobacco industry is a major causal factor," said Brian Hill, founder of the Oral Cancer Foundation. "Before Virginia Slims began aggressively targeting women in the 1960s, roughly one-in-ten oral cancer victims was female. Since then, the ratio has quintupled to one-in-two." Hill also noted that lung cancer surpassed breast cancer as the number one cancer killer of women in 1987, and that while overall cancer rates are declining for men and women, lung cancer is not declining among women. Moreover, smoking puts women and girls at greater risk of a wide range of other deadly diseases, including heart attacks, strokes and emphysema. Hill cited "Deadly in Pink: Big Tobacco Steps Up Its Targeting of Women and Girls," a comprehensive report recently issued by the American Cancer Society Cancer Action Network, American Heart Association, American Lung Association, Robert Wood Johnson Foundation and Campaign for Tobacco-Free Kids. The report studied numerous tobacco marketing campaigns, images from which can be found at www.tobaccofreekids.org/deadlyinpink. "In reading this report, three [...]

Oral Cancer Foundation News Team - A2009-04-17T08:05:22-07:00April, 2009|OCF In The News, Oral Cancer News|

WHO issues position on vaccines

Source: africasciencenews.org Author: staff In accordance with its mandate to provide guidance to Member States on health policy matters, WHO has issued a series of regularly updated position papers on vaccines and vaccine combinations against diseases that have an international public health impact. These papers, which are concerned primarily with the use of vaccines in large-scale immunization programs, summarize essential background information on their respective diseases and vaccines, and conclude with the current WHO position concerning their use in the global context. The papers have been reviewed by a number of experts within and outside WHO and, since April 2006, they have been reviewed and endorsed by WHO’s Strategic Advisory Group of Experts (SAGE) on vaccines and immunization. The position papers are designed for use mainly by national public health officials and managers of immunization programs. However, they may also be of interest to international funding agencies, the vaccine manufacturing industry, the medical community, scientific media and the public. Genital HPV infections are primarily transmitted by sexual contact, predominantly but not exclusively through penetrative intercourse. HPVs are highly transmissible, and most sexually active men and women will acquire an HPV infection at some time in their lives. Whereas most HPV infections are transient and benign, persistent genital infection with certain viral genotypes can lead to the development of anogenital precancers and cancers. Currently, 2 HPV vaccines are widely marketed internationally. Using recombinant technology, both are prepared from purified L1 structural proteins that self-assemble to form HPV type-specific empty shells or [...]

Oral Cancer Foundation News Team - A2009-04-15T07:23:53-07:00April, 2009|Oral Cancer News|

HPV data may aid vaccine’s effectiveness

Source: health.usnews.com Author: staff The majority of invasive cervical cancers in New Mexico in the 1980s and 1990s contained DNA from human papillomavirus type 16 (HPV16) and HPV type 18 (HPV18), says a new study. It also found that women diagnosed with HPV16- or HPV18-positive cancers were an average of five years younger than those diagnosed with cancers associated with other HPV types. The HPV vaccine (Gardasil) protects against infections caused by HPV16 and HPV18, so the new findings may have implications for future cancer screening programs, the researchers said. The researchers analyzed U.S. data in the Surveillance, Epidemiology and End Results registry and identified 1,213 cases of in situ cervical cancer diagnosed between 1980 and 1999, as well as 808 cases of invasive cervical cancer diagnosed between 1980 and 1999 in New Mexico. HPV16 DNA was found in 53.2 percent of invasive cervical cancers, HPV18 DNA was found in 13.1 percent, and HPV45 DNA in 6.1 percent. HPV16 DNA was found in 56.3 percent of in situ cervical cancers, HPV31 DNA in 12.6 percent, and HPV33 DNA in 8 percent. Patients' median age at diagnosis of invasive cancer with HPV16 and HPV18 was 48.1 years, and 45.9 years, respectively. Median age at diagnosis of invasive cancer with other HPV genotypes was 52.3 years. The study is in the March 24 online issue of the Journal of the National Cancer Institute. "To our knowledge, this is the largest study of its kind conducted in a U.S. population," wrote a team [...]

Oral Cancer Foundation News Team - A2009-04-13T09:08:21-07:00April, 2009|Oral Cancer News|

Simple test to detect cancer will save millions

Source: www.express.co.uk Author: Kevin O'Sullivan Millions of lives could be saved with the development of a fast new cancer test using blood from a simple pin-prick. The new test will enable doctors to swiftly detect the disease in its early stages and monitor it closely – giving patients the best chance of survival. It could replace painful biopsy procedures where a large amount of tissue has to be removed for tests during invasive surgery. Doctors will remove a speck of blood smaller than a full-stop, then run it through a sophisticated machine that can pick up traces of the disease in molecules invisible to the human eye. New Test: A simple pin prick is all that is needed. Last night the announcement was hailed as a breakthrough. Scientists have focused on blood cancers but it is hoped the technique will be used on all cancers one day. Eddie O’Gorman, chairman of Children With Leukaemia, said last night the news was a “fantastic step forward”, which could mean far less intrusive tests for children. He welcomed the tests as “great news” in the fight against cancer, which is still the world’s biggest killer. He sounded a note of caution as well. “Like all ground-breaking research, there will inevitably be a long way to go before the developments take effect.” Breast cancer patient Linda Marsh, an office administrator who was diagnosed last May, welcomed any development that would cut down on the agony of waiting to hear if you have the disease. [...]

Oral Cancer Foundation News Team - A2009-04-13T06:23:51-07:00April, 2009|Oral Cancer News|

Stricter conflict-of-interest guidelines proposed for all professional medical associations

Source: www.medscape.com Author: Deborah Brauser Current guidelines on conflicts of interest between industry and professional medical associations (PMAs) should be updated with stronger recommendations and adopted by all PMAs, according to an article published in the April 1 issue of the Journal of the American Medical Association. "PMAs play an essential role in defining and advancing health care standards," write David J. Rothman, PhD, president of the Institute on Medicine as a Profession and Bernard Schoenberg Professor of Social Medicine at the College of Physicians and Surgeons at Columbia University, New York City, and colleagues. "Their conferences, continuing medical education courses, practice guidelines, definitions of ethical norms, and public advocacy positions carry great weight with physicians and the public. Because many PMAs receive extensive funding from pharmaceutical and device companies, it is crucial that their guidelines manage both real and perceived conflicts of interests." However, the authors write, the current PMA policies are not uniform and "lack stringency." The authors have identified several conflict-of-interest areas and have suggestions for new short- and long-term guidelines to address them. "The recommendations are rigorous and would require many PMAs to transform their mode of operation and perhaps to forgo valuable activities. To maintain integrity, sacrifice may be required." 10 Recommended Guidelines The 10 recommended guidelines cover general budget support from industry, national and regional conventions, industry funds for research by PMAs and members, industry funds for fellowships and training programs, guidelines committees, industry support of PMA publications, product endorsements, affiliated foundations, conflicts of [...]

Oral Cancer Foundation News Team - A2009-04-12T11:18:56-07:00April, 2009|Oral Cancer News|

Naturally fluorescent molecules may serve as cancer biomarker

Source: www.medicalnewstoday.com Author: Amitabh Avasthi Excess amounts of a naturally fluorescent molecule found in all living cells could serve as a natural biomarker for cancer, according to bioengineers. NADH, or nicotinamide adenine dinucleotide, is a key coenzyme -- a non-protein molecule necessary for the functioning of an enzyme -- found mostly in the inner membrane of a cell's power plant, or mitochondria. It fuels a series of biochemical reactions that involve various enzymes to produce ATP, the major energy source in cells. In the event of disease or a metabolic disorder, these enzymes and their related reactions can become disabled, causing a buildup of unused NADH. "Dysfunctional enzymes in the mitochondria are known to be associated with serious health problems such as cancer and neurodegenerative diseases," said Ahmed Heikal, associate professor of bioengineering, Penn State. "By detecting the level of NADH and its distribution inside living cells, we should be able to monitor the mitochondrial activity and thus the integrity of any given cell, without adding potentially toxic dyes or actually destroying the cell." According to Heikal, one of the main challenges in cancer diagnosis is the ability to differentiate cancer cells from normal ones at the early stages of tumor progression. To tease apart the critical difference between normal and cancerous cells, the researchers used the fluorescence of natural NADH. Using a combination of state-of-the-art spectroscopy and microscopy techniques, the researchers were able to convert such fluorescence into an accurate measure of NADH concentration in live cells. Heikal and [...]

Oral Cancer Foundation News Team - A2009-04-12T11:11:32-07:00April, 2009|Oral Cancer News|