9/20/2006 Madison, WI Katerina Strati et al. PNAS | September 19, 2006 | vol. 103 | no. 38 | 14152-14157 Head and neck squamous cell carcinoma (HNSCC) is a leading cause of cancer mortality worldwide. Recent reports have associated a subset of HNSCC with high-risk human papillomaviruses (HPVs), particularly HPV16, the same subset of HPVs responsible for the majority of cervical and anogenital cancers. In this study we describe a mouse model for HPV-associated HNSCC that employs mice transgenic for the HPV16 oncogenes E6 and E7. In these mice, E6 and E7 induce aberrant epithelial proliferation and, in the presence of a chemical carcinogen, they increase dramatically the animal's susceptibility to HNSCC. The cancers arising in the HPV16-transgenic mice mirror the molecular and histopathological characteristics of human HPV-positive HNSCC that distinguish the latter from human HPV-negative HNSCC, including overexpression of p16 protein and formation of more basaloid cancers. This validated model of HPV-associated HNSCC provides the means to define the contributions of individual HPV oncogenes to HNSCC and to understand the molecular basis for the differing clinical properties of HPV-positive and HPV-negative human HNSCC. From this study, we identify minichromosome maintenance protein 7 (MCM7) and p16 as potentially useful biomarkers for HPV-positive head and neck cancer. Authors: Katerina Strati, Henry C. Pitot, and Paul F. Lambert Authors' affiliation: McArdle Laboratory for Cancer Research, University of Wisconsin School of Medicine and Public Health, 1400 University Avenue, Madison, WI 53706

9/19/2006 Boston, MA Liz Kowalczyk Boston Globe (Boston.com) The rising number of Massachusetts residents with cancer will outstrip the capacity of radiation treatment facilities within four years, say public health officials, who for the first time in 13 years are asking hospitals that do not already offer such therapy to build expensive new treatment centers. Doctors will diagnose 38,248 residents with cancer in 2010, health officials estimate, 18 percent more than the number of new cases diagnosed in 2000. Treating these patients will require at least eight additional multi-million-dollar radiation facilities, and health officials in July changed state regulations to allow more hospitals to build such centers. The facilities cost at least $5 million to build, largely because the machine that produces the radiation must be housed in a thick-walled vault to keep the damaging rays from escaping. It's unclear how many smaller hospitals will be willing to shoulder the expense. "That's the million-dollar question," said Anuj Goel, attorney for the Massachusetts Hospital Association , which is a nonprofit group . "It's all based on money and resources and patient need." If hospitals don't build enough radiation oncology facilities, patients could experience longer waits for therapy. Radiation therapy is one of the most common treatments for cancer, with about half of the patients requiring it to shrink their tumors, state officials estimate. And doctors expect radiation therapy to be used for more types of cancer in the future, meaning the state could be underestimating demand for the service. While once [...]

9/19/2006 Toronto, Ontario, Canada Editorial - John N. Waldron Journal of Clinical Oncology, Vol 24, No 27 (September 20), 2006: pp. 4367-4368 At present, the potential uses for positron emission tomography (PET) in the management of cancer include the characterization of disease at presentation, assessment of disease response to treatment, and the detection of recurrent disease. Published reports of the use of PET in cancer patients listed in the PubMed database have multiplied by a factor of 10 over the last decade, with close to 1,000 reports in 2005. It is reasonable to conclude that, for the majority of patients at presentation who undergo staging with computed tomography (CT) and/or magnetic resonance imaging (MRI), the use of fluorodeoxyglucose (FDG) PET does not add information that would change initial management. Nonetheless, FDG-PET will detect disease that would have been otherwise overlooked for an important minority of patients. The consequence should prevent undertreatment in the case of specifically targeted therapies such as surgery or radiation. Alternatively, when FDG-PET determines that disease has spread beyond the possibility of curative treatments, the morbidity of overtreatment will be avoided. A greater potential impact of FDG-PET is its putative ability to exclude disease, thereby avoiding the need for further investigation or more extensive local or systemic treatment. Examples of this potential could be the avoidance of axillary dissection and cytotoxic chemotherapy in breast cancer patients with a PET-negative axilla, the avoidance of mediastinoscopy for lung cancer patients with a PET-negative mediastinum, and, in many cancer sites [...]

9/19/2006 Philadelphia, PA staff Biocompare.com Abnormal overexpression of p53 is a predictive molecular biomarker of advexin efficacy in recurrent squamous cell carcinoma of the head and neck A common laboratory test that predicted poor outcome from traditional radiation and chemotherapy treatment for head and neck cancers now has been found to predict a good prognosis with treatment of p53 tumor suppressor gene therapy - making it potentially the first predictive biomarker test for a gene-based drug. Researchers at Introgen Therapeutics, Inc., in Austin, Texas, found that patients with advanced squamous cell carcinoma of the head and neck cancer (SCCHN) whose pre-treatment tumor samples over-expressed p53 protein were significantly more likely to respond to Advexin therapy than those whose tumor showed little p53 protein. Advexin is a gene based drug, injected directly into tumors, which uses an adenoviral vector to deliver the wild type p53 gene to tumor cells. Results were presented at the first meeting on Molecular Diagnostics in Cancer Therapeutic Development, organized by the American Association for Cancer Research. "Not only do we now have a way to predict if the gene therapy is likely to succeed, those patients for which it does work are the hardest patients to treat," said Laura L. Licato, Ph.D., associate director for Clinical Research at Introgen. "Accumulation of p53 has corresponded with a poor response to traditional therapies, as well as lower survival and a shorter time to disease progression." "Selecting those who have the best chance of responding to p53 tumor suppressor [...]

9/19/2006 India staff MedIndia.com Patients with stage IV oropharyngeal cancer -- a type of cancer that develops in the part of the throat just behind the mouth that assists with breathing, talking, eating, chewing, and swallowing -- are often treated with radiation alone or with chemoradiation. The addition of chemotherapy is usually based on the need for radiotherapy sensitizers and the perceived risk for the spread of cancer cells from the original site to other parts of the body. In the oropharyngeal cancer population with small volume primary disease and moderate metastatic disease in the lymph nodes, the role of chemotherapy is less clear. But, as chemoradiation for oropharyngeal cancer has become more common and survival is stabilizing, the question of long-term function is becoming important. There is an assumption that combined therapy may lead to increased dysphagia, or difficulty in swallowing and feeding tube dependence. This study is a retrospective chart review of all patients presenting at MD Anderson Cancer Center with T1 or T2 tonsil or base of tongue squamous cell carcinoma and N2a or N2b cervical lymph node metastasis between January 2000 and December 2004. Only patients who received their radiation treatment at this institution were included. Charts were reviewed for demographic features, staging information, and method of treatment. When available, pre- and post-treatment swallowing evaluations were analyzed. The functional outcomes for swallowing were the presence or absence of feeding (PFG) tubes, diet status, and swallow evaluation results including dysphagia and aspiration. The two-tailed Fisher exact test [...]

9/18/2006 Washington, D.C. Ricardo Alonzo-Zaldivar LA Times (latimes.com) Tens of thousands of patients with oral cancer and other diseases that damage the body's salivary glands are facing stiff barriers to air travel because of new security restrictions on carrying liquids and gels, say patients, health professionals and advocacy groups. Instead of taking a one-hour flight from upstate New York to attend a conference in Washington next month, community college professor Cornelia Rea has decided instead to make a seven-hour road trip. "When the new travel regulations came out, I said, 'OK, that's it -- I'm driving,' " Rea said. "I don't know what I'm going to do for longer trips in the future." An oral cancer survivor, Rea cannot swallow food because of radiation damage to throat tissues. She gets nourishment from liquid injected with a syringe into a small tube in her abdomen. Because her salivary glands were also damaged by radiation treatment, Rea uses sprays and a gel to keep her mouth moist, which helps to prevent infections and other complications. Similar travel problems confront patients with Sjogren's syndrome, an autoimmune disorder that shuts down the tear ducts and salivary glands and can affect other moisture-producing tissues. One Sjogren's patient, who asked not to be identified, said that to make sure a bottle of eyedrops wouldn't be confiscated, she tucked it into her bra before a recent flight. "A lot of our patients are nervous about flying," said Steven Taylor, chief executive of the Sjogren's Syndrome Foundation, based [...]

9/18/2006 Sweden staff Newswise.com The tongue, a large collection of skeletal muscles found on the floor of the mouth, manages our food for chewing and swallowing, acts as one of the organs of taste in that its surface is covered in taste buds, and assists in forming our speech. One can stick out their tongue as part of a diagnostic examination or to show contempt. Injury or discomfit to the tongue is generally caused by accidental biting or irritation by certain foods or drugs. Medical disorders include a common infection known as “thrush” in which an overgrowth of fungi forms a white film covering the tongue. Intense pain of the entire mouth can also be caused by burning mouth syndrome. Tongue cancer on the other hand does exist and although its incidence is low, the result can be deadly. Tongue cancer begins as a small lump or thick white patch on the tongue that may be painful or tender. With time the lump turns into an ulcer with a firm, raised rim and a center that bleeds easily. If untreated the tumor will grow causing the tongue to become rigid and hard making swallowing and speech difficult. The American Cancer Society tabulated 7,320 new cases for tongue cancer in the United States in 2004, a rate of one in 37,158. Males were afflicted with this disease in two of three cases. For the same year there were an estimated 1,700 estimated U.S. deaths for tongue cancer, with two male deaths [...]

9/14/2006 Chicago, IL staff Newswise.com A common laboratory test that predicted poor outcome from traditional radiation and chemotherapy treatment for head and neck cancers now has been found to predict a good prognosis with treatment of p53 tumor suppressor gene therapy - making it potentially the first predictive biomarker test for a gene-based drug. Researchers at Introgen Therapeutics, Inc., in Austin, Texas, found that patients with advanced squamous cell carcinoma of the head and neck cancer (SCCHN) whose pre-treatment tumor samples over-expressed p53 protein were significantly more likely to respond to Advexin therapy than those whose tumor showed little p53 protein. Advexin is a gene based drug, injected directly into tumors, which uses an adenoviral vector to deliver the wild type p53 gene to tumor cells. Results were presented at the first meeting on Molecular Diagnostics in Cancer Therapeutic Development, organized by the American Association for Cancer Research. “Not only do we now have a way to predict if the gene therapy is likely to succeed, those patients for which it does work are the hardest patients to treat,” said Laura L. Licato, Ph.D., associate director for Clinical Research at Introgen. “Accumulation of p53 has corresponded with a poor response to traditional therapies, as well as lower survival and a shorter time to disease progression.” “Selecting those who have the best chance of responding to p53 tumor suppressor gene therapy also helps perfect clinical trial testing,” Licato said. The researchers specifically found, in a subset of patients from phase II [...]

9/14/2006 Copenhagen, Denmark press release PRNewswire.com Genmab A/S announced today it has initiated a Phase III pivotal study with HuMax- EGFr(TM) (zalutumumab) to treat patients with head and neck cancer that is considered incurable with standard treatment. The pivotal study will include a maximum of 273 patients with squamous cell carcinoma of the head and neck (SCCHN) who are refractory to or intolerant of standard platinum-based chemotherapy. "We are eager to begin the HuMax-EGFr pivotal study and are looking forward to starting treatment of these very sick head and neck cancer patients with the aim of increasing their life expectancy," said Lisa N. Drakeman, Ph.D., Chief Executive Officer. About the trial: Patients in the study will be randomized into two treatment groups: HuMax-EGFr in combination with best supportive care or best supportive care alone. Patients treated with HuMax-EGFr in combination with best supportive care will receive an initial dose of 8mg/kg of HuMax-EGFr, followed by weekly infusions of a maintenance dose until disease progression. The maintenance dose will be adjusted as necessary until the patient develops a dose limiting skin rash, up to a maximum dose of 16 mg/kg of HuMax-EGFr. Disease status will be assessed every 8 weeks by CT scan or MRI according to RECIST criteria until disease progression and patients will be followed for survival. The objective of the study is to evaluate the efficacy of HuMax-EGFr in combination with best supportive care as compared to best supportive care alone in terms of overall survival. The primary [...]

9/14/2006 San Antonio, TX staff San Antonio Business Journal (sanantonio.bizjournals.com) Reflux disease can be an early warning sign for esophageal cancer, according to a local surgeon who specializes in cancer treatments. Dr. Scott Johnson, associate professor of surgery at the University of Texas Health Science Center at San Antonio (UTHSC), says people suffering from reflux disease need to be vigilant in having it treated and checked out. "Esophageal cancer becomes apparent usually in the later stages of disease when it is largely incurable," he says. "Patients may not realize they have a serious problem." Former Gov. Ann Richards died late Wednesday, Sept. 13, from esophageal cancer, which is the fastest rising major cancer in the United States. "I cannot comment on Gov. Richards' specific case, because I was not her physician, but I will tell you that most patients present with symptoms after it is too late to cure them," Johnson says. The National Cancer Institute estimates that 14,550 new cases of esophageal cancer will be diagnosed in 2006 and that the disease will kill 13,770 Americans. Johnson says new treatments, both surgical techniques and medication, are being developed that could ultimately improve the outlook for patients with esophageal cancer. "The key is, if you have gastroesophageal reflux disease or suspect you have it, see your physician regularly and ask him or her about the risk of developing esophageal cancer," Johnson says.