6/3/2007 New York, NY staff Forbes.com Advances in treating lung and head/neck cancers could have immediate implications for patients, new research suggests. Three studies detailing the findings were presented at a press conference Saturday at the American Society of Clinical Oncology annual meeting, in Chicago. These types of cancer are notoriously difficult to treat, and have extremely low survival rates. Lung cancer is currently the number one cancer killer in the world. Head and neck cancers rank sixth, with 500,000 new cases and 300,000 deaths worldwide each year. Progress, particularly with lung cancer, comes in small increments. "These are two very difficult-to-treat cancers," said Dr. Roy S. Herbst, moderator of the press conference and a professor of medicine and cancer biology at the University of Texas M.D. Anderson Cancer Center in Houston. One study found, for the first time, that giving Avastin (bevacizumab) to patients with advanced non-small cell lung cancer, along with the chemotherapy drugs cisplatin and gemcitabine, slowed the growth of the cancer by up to 25 percent. The data confirms earlier results. "This cancer is very hard to treat. There have been some advances, but we have reached a treatment plateau and we need more agents which may help us to offer better treatment to patients," said study author Dr. Christian Manegold, a professor of medicine at the University of Heidelberg in Germany. "We were able to confirm that Avastin adds efficacy to standard chemotherapy and provides hope for patients suffering from a deadly disease." The U.S. [...]

6/3/2007 Lisle, IL Ben Wasserman foodconsumer.org Dentists need more training to properly screen oral cancer and provide risk assessment and counseling, suggests a study conducted by researchers at the University of Illinois at Chicago and published in the Journal of Public Health Dentistry. The study found more than 92 percent of dentists in Illinois performed oral cancer examinations for their patients, but many were not performing the procedures thoroughly or at optimum intervals. Some dentists had no thorough understanding of oral cancer and were not doing all they should be doing to detect oral cancers, said Charles LeHew of the UIC Cancer Center's Center for Population Health and Health Disparities and the Institute for Health Research and Policy. Researchers surveyed more than 500 dentists in 19 counties in Illinois using a 38-item questionnaire for their knowledge of oral cancer prevention and early detection. And more than 60 percent responded to the survey. The results show that the majority of dentists correctly identified squamous cell carcinoma, the most common oral cancer. They also knew the most common sites for oral cancer and the most common type of early lesions. But many could not answer those questions correctly. Further, dentists lacked knowledge needed for risk assessment and counseling. Many did not know age is an important factor for oral cancer and some did not know tobacco and alcohol are two most important factors. The majority had received continuing education. But training in risk counseling was rare. Oral or pharyngeal cancer will be [...]

6/3/2007 Sacremento, CA Dorsey Griffith Sacramento Bee (www.sacbee.com) A developing health science aims to prevent disease by focusing on mouth bacteria You might be surprised to learn that the microscopic bugs around your teeth that cause gum disease may also contribute to tongue cancer, medical researchers recently reported. Such a link would not, however, shock the legions of oral health professionals paid to clean teeth and gums, restore teeth and scare patients into flossing daily. Mounting evidence linking gum disease and other physical ailments is bucking the long-held notion that the mouth and body should be treated as separate entities by different kinds of doctors. "For a long time, dentists really saw themselves as drilling and filling and didn't look at the ecological causes of oral health and how important it is in our total well-being," said Jennifer Holtzman, associate professor at the University of Southern California School of Dentistry. "Dentists are now finding themselves in the position of being able to prevent tooth decay and really take a lead role in helping people manage their own health." Scientists already have associated periodontal disease with heart disease, diabetes, respiratory illness and several pregnancy-related problems including infertility, preeclampsia, and premature and low-birth weight babies. The science is young and inconclusive, however. What's not yet known is whether diseased gums actually cause or contribute to other illnesses, and whether prevention of periodontal disease -- through regular exams, cleaning and good oral hygiene -- could actually prevent or lessen the effects of other [...]

6/2/2007 San Francisco, CA press release BusinessWire.com Results from a new national survey reveal that the majority (97%) of oral mucositis (OM) sufferers believe there is little or no awareness among the general public of oral mucositis, one of the most common and debilitating complications of cancer treatment. The low level of public awareness may be explained by a perceived lack of effective treatments and information about OM – a problem cited by 85% of the survey respondents. The survey was supported by Cytogen Corporation, which recently licensed and introduced CAPHOSOL®, an advanced electrolyte solution indicated as an adjunct to standard oral care in treating OM caused by radiation or high dose chemotherapy, in the U.S. The survey, which involved 427 past and present OM sufferers prior to Cytogen’s introduction of CAPHOSOL, also shed light on the difficulties faced by those living with OM, an inflammation of mucous membranes in the mouth that commonly affects patients undergoing cancer chemotherapy and radiation therapy. Only half (52%) of the survey participants reported having received a formal OM diagnosis, and 25% were unable to obtain any treatment that relieved their OM symptoms. The survey results also indicated that OM negatively affects quality of life in an overwhelming majority (90%) of respondents. “Oral mucositis is one of the most common, debilitating and painful side effects of cancer therapy, and the compelling results of this survey underscore the significant unmet medical need among cancer patients, caregivers and physicians,” said Michael D. Becker, president and CEO [...]

6/1/2007 Evergreen, VA staff PhysOrg.com (www.physorg.com) Professor Andy Trotti, H Lee Moffitt Cancer Center, University of South Florida, Tampa, Florida, USA and colleagues assessed deficiencies in established methods for summarizing adverse events, and devised their new method. The new system, named TAME, places traditional adverse-event data into three concise risk domains: short term toxicity (T), adverse long term effects (A) and mortality risk (M), which are calculated for each treatment program to generate an end-result (E) summary index. The authors say: “This is an entirely new concept in risk assessment. It was specifically designed for the evaluation of cancer treatments. Traditional safety reporting methods were designed for low-risk non-cancer treatments, and are simply overwhelmed by the amount of toxicity data generated in cancer treatment programs. Thus, a new way to look at risk that is more relevant to oncology is needed.” Despite being in the early stages of development, TAME has managed to identify differences of up to 500% in acute toxicity burden between certain cancer treatments. Established methods only detected a 170% difference in short term effects between those treatments. Established summary methods were also found to disregard a large amount of important information, and only permit comparing rates of each type of side effect (in cancer treatments there are dozens of types), whereas TAME includes all types of severe side effects, and considers their relative frequency, using a concise scoring system. However there was little difference between TAME and established methods in detecting the variation of risk in [...]

6/1/2007 Marietta, GA Martha Kerr Matria HealthCare (www.cancerpage.com) While the risk of head and neck squamous cell cancers (HNSCC) is higher in those with human papillomavirus (HPV) 16 seropositivity, survival among such patients is higher than among those with HPV-seronegative HNSCCs. "Our work supports the emerging data that HPV16-positive HNSCC is a distinct form of the disease," lead author Dr. Karl T. Kelsey of Harvard University told Reuters Health. "It absolutely supports wider use of the (HPV) vaccine, as more men than women get HNSCC." Dr. Kelsey and colleagues elsewhere in Boston conducted a case-control study of 486 patients with incident HNSCC and 550 matched controls. They report their findings in the June 1st issue of the International Journal of Cancer. Participants were tested for HPV 16 L1 protein. Tumors were assessed for HPV 16 DNA. Patients who were HPV-seropositive had a 1.5-fold higher risk of oral cavity cancers and a six-fold higher risk of pharyngeal tumors. There was a dose-response relationship between HPV 16 titer, HPV 16 DNA and increasing risk of HNSCC. HPV 16 DNA and HPV-seropositivity were significantly associated with sexual activity. HPV 16 DNA had an odds ratio of 12.8 and HPV-seropositivity had an odds ratio of 3.7 for more than 10 oral sexual partners. HPV 16 DNA and HPV-seropositivity had odds ratios of 4.5 and 3.2, respectively, for a high number of lifetime sexual partners. HPV-seropositivity had a hazard ratio of 0.4 and HPV 16 DNA a hazard ratio of 0.5 "indicating better survival for [...]

6/1/2007 Hyannis, MA Robin Lord Cape Cod Times (www.capecodonline.com) In one photograph, the patient's gums look pink and smooth, a sign to a dentist that, at first glance, all is well. But in the second photo, taken with a new oral screening tool, two dark round spots are revealed on the same patient's gums. They may be a sign of malignancy. The Velscope, a machine on the market only since November, consists of a thin wandlike device with a high-intensity blue light and magnifier at the end. It offers health care professionals a way to see, through the gums, whether cancer is lurking below the surface. Normal tissue will reflect the scope's light and glow. Abnormal tissue absorbs it and shows a dark opaque image. On Cape Cod, at least two dentists, Dr. William Sheier of Orleans and Dr. Stephen McGrail of Yarmouth, already have installed the $6,000 machine in their offices. McGrail says he planned to look at new dental chairs when he went to the annual dental show in Boston in January. The Velscope caught his eye, and within a half-hour of seeing it demonstrated, he had bought one. "I usually let new technology prove itself before I buy it, but this is the most exciting thing out there," he says. "It shows you things you normally would miss and puts them in the forefront." Finding ways to better detect oral cancer is important because about 90 percent of people who contract the disease die within five years, [...]

6/1/2007 web-based article Arlene A. Forastiere et al. Journal of Clinical Oncology, Vol 25, No 16 (June 1), 2007 Squamous cell cancer of the head and neck (HNSCC) would seem to be the ideal malignancy for epidermal growth factor receptor (EGFR) inhibition either with antibodies or small molecule tyrosine kinase (TK) inhibitors. EGFR protein is overexpressed in more than 90% of tumors relative to normal tissue, and high expression is associated with poor disease control.1-3 Data from preclinical models show at least additive effects of the two classes of EGFR inhibitors when combined with cisplatin,4,5 providing rationale for combination therapy. To date, cetuximab has been studied in recurrent HNSCC in combination with cisplatin6 and platinum plus fluorouracil (FU)7 as first-line treatment for recurrence and in the setting of platinum refractory disease,8,9 whereas the small molecule TK inhibitors have been tested as single agents in the second- or third-line setting.10-12 The optimal timing of EGFR inhibitors in the palliation of patients with disease recurrence has not been well defined. HNSCC has the theoretical advantage of providing easily accessible tumor for biopsy, which could facilitate study of the putative effects of molecularly targeted therapies on the complex signaling pathways downstream of the EGFR. Such correlative tissue studies are needed to elucidate EGFR pathway tumor biology and identify predictive markers for better patient selection for these costly therapies. This issue of the Journal of Clinical Oncology contains five articles that provide some insights into these questions and the results of an analysis of [...]

6/1/2007 Bethesda, MD staff Doctor's Guide (www.docguide.com) A blood test that detects proteins commonly released by a growing tumor could one day become a useful tool for monitoring the effectiveness of chemotherapy and radiation treatment in people with advanced throat cancer, according to a study published in the June 1, 2007, issue of Clinical Cancer Research. Scientists in the National Institute on Deafness and Other Communication Disorders (NIDCD) and National Cancer Institute (NCI), two of the National Institutes of Health (NIH), in collaboration with researchers of the University of Michigan, found that throat cancer patients who showed a decline in several cancer-related proteins following chemotherapy and radiation treatment were more likely to remain in remission, while those who experienced a large rise over time in those proteins frequently exhibited a return of throat cancer. The findings could help lead to the development of a blood test that enables doctors to detect the recurrence of throat cancer early on, when there is still time to pursue a second line of treatment, such as surgery or drug therapy. "Cancers of the head and neck are insidious because surgical removal of the tumor can severely impair a person's ability to talk and to swallow," said NIDCD Director, James F. Battey, Jr., MD, PhD. "A blood test that enables doctors to closely monitor a patient's rehabilitation while sparing the patient's voice, speech, and swallowing ability is an excellent example of the predictive, preemptive, and personalized approach to medicine that the NIH strives for." Roughly [...]

5/30/2007 Singapore Margie Mason apnews.myway.com Asia is bracing for a dramatic surge in cancer rates over the next decade as people in the developing world live longer and adopt bad Western habits that greatly increase the risk of the disease. Smoking, drinking and eating unhealthy foods - all linked to various cancers - will combine with larger populations and fewer deaths from infectious diseases to drive Asian cancer rates up 60 percent by 2020, some experts predict. But unlike in wealthy countries where the world's top medical care is found, there will likely be no prevention or treatment for many living in poor countries. "What happened in the Western world in the '60s or '70s will happen here in the next 10 to 20 years as life expectancy gets longer and we get better control on more common causes of deaths," said Dr. Jatin P. Shah, a professor of surgery at Memorial Sloan-Kettering Cancer Center in New York, who attended a cancer conference last month in Singapore. "The habit of alcohol consumption, smoking and dietary changes will increase the risk of Western world cancers to the Eastern world," Shah said. An estimated 40 percent of cancers worldwide can be prevented by exercise, eating healthy foods and not using tobacco, according to the World Health Organization. But more people in Asia are moving into cities and becoming overweight and obese from inactivity. They are replacing fruits and vegetables with fatty meals full of meat and salt, which is leading to increases [...]