11/8/2006 New York, NY staff Reuters (today.reuters.com) Smoking and heavy alcohol use may curb the likelihood of survival among men diagnosed with cancer, researchers from South Korea report. There is some evidence that these "cancer risk factors" boost mortality among cancer patients, Dr. Young Ho Yun of the National Cancer Center in Goyang and colleagues note. But to date no one has investigated how having these risk factors before cancer is diagnosed influences survival afterwards. Yun's team looked at data from 14,578 male cancer patients, all of whom had data on their pre-diagnosis health risk behaviors on record. They were followed for an average of about nine years after their cancer diagnosis. Men who had been smokers were at greater risk of dying from any type of cancer than non-smoking cancer patients, the researchers found. There is evidence that smokers are less likely to undergo cancer screening tests such as colonoscopy, so they may be diagnosed with cancer later on when it is more difficult to treat, the researchers note. Cigarette smoking itself, they add, could also make tumors grow more aggressively. Heavy drinkers were more likely to die from head and neck or liver cancer than non-drinkers with either type of cancer, and the risk rose in tandem with the amount of alcohol consumed. Drinking alcohol may increase tumor aggressiveness, the researchers say, or make people less likely to comply with treatment recommendations. Men who were resistant to the effects of the blood-sugar-processing hormone insulin, which is a warning [...]

11/7/2006 Bethesda, MD staff National Institute of Health (www.nih.gov) Of the 44.5 million adult smokers in the United States, 70 percent want to quit and 40 percent make a serious quit attempt each year, but fewer than 5 percent succeed in any given year. Effective tobacco cessation interventions are available and could double or triple quit rates, but not enough smokers request or are being offered these interventions. Tobacco use is a major public health concern, and a national, coordinated strategy for tobacco control that casts a wide net is needed to address this critical gap. This was a key finding of an NIH state-of-the-science panel convened this week to assess the available scientific evidence on tobacco use prevention, cessation, and control. Full text of the panel’s draft state-of-the-science statement will be available later today at http://consensus.nih.gov, including the panel’s identification of promising directions for future research. The panel found that smoking cessation interventions/treatments such as nicotine replacement therapy, telephone quitlines, and counseling were individually effective, and even more effective in combination. The panel also concluded that there is strong evidence to support the effectiveness of economic strategies such as increasing the cost of tobacco products through taxes and reducing out-of-pocket costs for effective cessation therapies. “It’s important to recognize tobacco use as a serious, chronic health issue that requires sustained attention,” said David F. Ransohoff, M.D., professor of medicine at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill and chair of the conference panel. “Quitting is a struggle, but [...]

11/7/2006 Philadelphia, PA staff USNewswire.com Chemoradiation (radiation and chemotherapy given at the same time) given through a needle or tube inserted into a vein (intravenous) is as effective as treatment given directly to the tumor through a tube inserted into an artery (intra-arterial) for patients with inoperable head and neck cancer, according to a randomized study presented at the plenary session November 6, 2006, at the American Society for Therapeutic Radiology and Oncology's 48th Annual Meeting in Philadelphia. "We were surprised about the findings because previous studies that were not randomized found that intra-arterial chemoradiation was more effective than intravenous treatment," said Coen Rasch, M.D., Ph.D., lead author of the study and a radiation oncologist at the Netherlands Cancer Institute/Antoni van Leeuwenhoek Huis in Amsterdam, The Netherlands. "Since intravenous chemoradiation is an easier treatment procedure for patients and doctors, it should be considered the standard of care for inoperable head and neck cancer." The study compared intra-arterial to intravenous chemoradiation in 240 patients with inoperable head and neck cancer, who were assigned to one of the treatment procedures by chance. The chemoradiation was a combination of radiation and cisplatin, a type of chemotherapy that can kill cancer cells, especially when combined with radiation. Results found that both treatment methods were able to control the same amount of cancer growth.

11/7/2006 Durham, NC staff HealthNewsDigest.com Debora Tisdale didn't want to lose her heart in the process of saving her cancerous breast. She feared that during radiation treatment, the searing beams intended to attack her breast tumor could also inadvertently strike her healthy heart. "I thought, 'I'm going to live through breast cancer and then die of a heart attack," said 44-year-old Tisdale of Raleigh, N.C. Her family history of heart disease only intensified her worries. Just a year ago, the state of radiation technologies may have justified Tisdale's fears: radiation was difficult to harness and channel directly to the tumor, and healthy tissue often was damaged during treatment. But today, scientists in Duke University Medical Center's Department of Radiation Oncology, along with scientists at a handful of other institutions, are providing the medical equivalent of a guided navigation system to irradiate the tumor itself while avoiding healthy tissue nearby. The new techniques, known as "intensity-modulated radiation therapy" (IMRT) and "image-guided radiation therapy" (IGRT), are so precise that they hit the tumor while barely straying outside its perimeter, said Fang Fang Yin, Ph.D., director of radiation physics at Duke. The technology enables physicians to view the tumor in real time, with a three-dimensional view, as it shifts with the patient's breathing and the motion of nearby organs. Yin presented new data on Duke's experience using the technologies to treat patients on Monday, Nov. 6, 2006, at the annual meeting of the American Society of Therapeutic Radiology and Oncology, in Philadelphia. According [...]

11/7/2006 Washington, D.C. Christine Dell'Amore United Press International (www.upi.com) A series of new international studies on cancer therapies has identified treatments that may improve survival and limit harm to patients, researchers reported Monday. A phase-III randomized trial in Canada has suggested the use of "intensity modulated radiation therapy," or IMRT, reduces more painful side effects than the traditional form of radiation for women with breast cancer. "This is the first study that proves all the investment we've done in new technology has translated into a patient benefit," said researcher Dr. Jean-Philippe Pignol, an associate professor at the University of Toronto. Pignol and other researchers presented their preliminary findings during a news briefing at the American Society for Therapeutic Radiology & Oncology, or ASTRO, meeting in Philadelphia. All of the research presented was preliminary, meaning it has not been peer-reviewed and may change. Most women who get breast cancer will have surgery followed by radiation. But the standard radiation technique for breast cancer, called the wedge compensation technique, can cause painful skin irritation and burns along the breast and the breast crease, most often in women with large breasts. The burns can be severe enough to reduce quality of life, Pignol said. In the trial of 358 patients, Pignol and colleagues assigned patients to either the standard treatment or an intervention of IMRT. In the study, 50 percent of the women had burns resulting from treatment. Pignol found IMRT, which is able to deliver a high dose of radiation directly to [...]

11/6/2006 Phiadelphia, PA staff ScienceDaily.com A protein with the ironic name "Srcasm" can counteract the effects of tumor-promoting molecules in skin cells, according to new research by investigators at the University of Pennsylvania School of Medicine. Using animal models, the researchers discovered that Srcasm acts like a brake in epithelial cells, preventing uncontrolled cell growth caused by a family of proteins called Src kinases. This finding, published online in the Journal of Biological Chemistry, suggests a target for future gene therapy to treat skin, head, neck, colon, and breast cancers. Investigators have known for decades that Src kinase proteins can promote tumor formation. Src kinase activity is elevated in most skin cancers and in common carcinomas, including those of the breast and colon. At the same time, levels of the signaling molecule Srcasm are typically low in tumor cells, notes senior author John Seykora, MD, PhD, Assistant Professor of Dermatology. The current findings show that Srcasm can reduce the amount of Src kinases in cells; they have also shown that increased activity of these kinases is associated with cancerous skin lesions. Src kinase proteins act like messengers, sending signals that control cellular growth. Found just inside the cell membrane, they conduct signals from cell surface receptors to the proteins that promote growth. Src kinases can be activated during cell division or through mutation. If these proteins are too active, they promote rapid cell growth that can spin out of control. In skin cells, Src kinases and Srcasm are involved in [...]

11/5/2006 Plainsboro, NJ press release PrimeZone.com Integra LifeSciences Holdings Corporation today announced that its subsidiary Integra Radionics launched its latest radiosurgery software, XKnife(TM) version RT 4.0, at the annual meeting of the American Society for Therapeutic Radiology and Oncology (ASTRO). XKnife(TM) version RT 4.0 software is the tenth major release of the Integra Radionics radiosurgical treatment planning software, which was originally developed in collaboration with Harvard Medical School for the precise treatment of brain tumors. Through continued collaborations with institutions worldwide, the software has evolved into a system capable of precisely treating tumors in the brain, head and neck, lung, prostate, and spine. In addition to the three-dimensional treatment planning software, the XKnife(TM) system includes stereotactic localizers and immobilizers, radiosurgical collimators, a miniature multileaf collimator, and quality assurance instrumentation. Over 350 XKnife(TM) radiosurgery systems have been installed worldwide. Unlike conventional surgery, XKnife(TM) radiosurgery is completely non-invasive and does not require a surgical incision. This eliminates the discomfort and complications associated with standard surgery. Cancerous or other diseased tissue can be treated with focused radiation beams from a linear accelerator (linac) that are precisely guided using CT, MRI, and PET images. Surrounding normal tissue is spared and patients are typically able to leave the hospital immediately after their approximate thirty minute single treatment. To date, over 45,000 patients have undergone XKnife(TM) radiosurgery. The latest XKnife(TM) software offers the benefit of improved treatment planning efficiencies, enhanced quality assurance (QA), and increased synergies with new radiotherapy technologies. Shorter planning time is a product [...]

11/3/2006 New Rochelle, NY press release Genetic Engineering News (www.genengnews.com) Introgen Therapeutics obtained a worldwide, exclusive license to a family of patent applications regarding a combination therapy using Advexin® with inhibitors of epidermal growth factor receptors (EGFr). The family of patents was licensed from The University of Texas System M.D. Anderson Cancer Center. Advexin is Introgen’s p53 tumor suppressor therapy for potential use in head and neck cancer. The company plans to use it in combination with such drugs like Erbitux™ (ImClone Systems), Vectibix™ (Amgen), Tarceva™ (OSI Pharmaceuticals), and Iressa™ (AstraZeneca). "The regulatory implications of the combination of Advexin and EGFr inhibitors are significant," points out Max W. Talbott, Ph.D., Introgen's senior vp of worldwide commercial development. "In discussions with regulatory authorities, due to the unique efficacy mechanism of Advexin and its minimal toxicity, we have been encouraged to consider development of combination therapeutic approaches utilizing Advexin and the inhibitors." This technology is based on the discovery by scientists at M.D. Anderson Cancer Center that p53 and mda7 therapies can work synergistically with EGFr inhibitors to arrest tumor growth. Introgen reports that preclinical studies have shown that this double-barrel therapeutic approach results in an unexpectedly greater level of cancer cell death than when either therapy is used alone. "The results of our preclinical work, coupled with the recent agreement with M. D. Anderson Cancer Center for the EGFr technology, should have a positive impact on Advexin and follow-on product development plans both in the United States as well as in [...]

11/2/2006 New York, NY staff Forbes.com The editors of the New England Journal of Medicine this week added another chapter to the story of disgraced Norwegian researcher Dr. Jon Sudbo, as they formally retracted two reports on oral cancer his team published in the journal in 2001 and 2004. By his own admission -- issued through his lawyer earlier this year --much of Sudbo's published data was fabricated. A recent report from an investigative commission formed by Sudbo's former employers, the Rikshospitalet-Radiumhospitalet Medical Center and the University of Oslo, has since confirmed the fraud. The NEJM editors based their retraction largely on the report's findings. "Given the weight of evidence offered in the commission's report and the requests of most of the authors of the articles, we retract both articles," NEJM editors Dr. Gregory Curfman, Dr. Jeffrey Drazen and Stephen Morrissey wrote in the Nov. 2 issue of the journal. They noted that all of the two studies' authors, with the exception of Sudbo, have agreed with the Oslo commission's findings and the journal's subsequent retraction of the article. Sudbo's various co-authors have been cleared of any wrongdoing. Both articles focused on patients (typically long-term tobacco users) who were at high risk of oral cancer due to the presence of precancerous white growths in their mouths or on their tongues known as oral leukoplakia. Sudbo's April 1, 2004, NEJM article suggested that a cellular aberration called "aneuploidy" -- the presence of disordered cells marked by overabundant DNA -- might predict [...]

11/2/2006 Memphis, TN staff CancerConsultants.com According to the results of two studies published in the International Journal of Radiation Oncology, Biology, Physics, treatment of head and neck cancer with intensity-modulated radiation therapy is less likely to result in dry mouth (xerostomia) than treatment with conventional radiation therapy. Head and neck cancers originate in the throat, larynx (voice box), pharynx, salivary glands, or oral cavity (lip, mouth, tongue). Most head and neck cancers involve squamous cells, which are cells that line the mouth, throat, or other structures. Standard treatment for head and neck cancer is largely determined by the stage (extent to which the cancer has spread) and by the specific locations within the head or neck area where the cancer has spread. For head and neck cancer patients treated with radiation therapy, xerostomia is a potential side effect of treatment. Xerostomia refers to a condition of an abnormally dry mouth. Patients with severe xerostomia have very limited or virtually no saliva production. This results in difficulty eating, speaking, and swallowing. These symptoms make xerostomia extremely uncomfortable, and patients who suffer from the condition have a drastically reduced quality of life. Xerostomia can last long after treatment is completed. Intensity modulated radiation therapy (IMRT) is a newer approach to radiation therapy that allows for the more precise delivery of radiation to cancer cells, while sparing healthy surrounding tissue. Two studies recently evaluated parotid gland function among head and neck cancer patients treated with IMRT or conventional radiation therapy. The parotid glands [...]