6/6/2006 New York, NY staff Bloomberg.com Patients with inoperable head and neck cancers are more likely to be cured if they are given Sanofi-Aventis SA's best-selling cancer drug Taxotere in addition to chemotherapy, a new study shows. The combination represents a new standard of care for patients with the disease, which historically has had a low survival rate, said Marshall R. Posner, director of head and neck oncology at Dana-Farber Cancer Institute. Overall survival after three years was 62 percent with patients who received Taxotere, compared with 48 percent for those who didn't. The cancer typically doesn't reappear in patients more than two years after treatment, he said. The number of patients developing the cancer, however, is on the rise. "We've doubled the cure rate" since the 1970s and 1980s, Posner said in an interview at the American Society of Clinical Oncology meeting in Atlanta, where he presented the results. "The standard has changed. This survival data can't be ignored." Taxotere was added to two generic chemotherapy medicines only at the start of therapy for patients with advanced cancer of the larynx, pharynx, tongue, palate or jaw. Another group in the 538-patient study was given only the chemotherapy drugs. All then received a combination of chemotherapy and radiation. Survival from the cancers that strike about 40,000 Americans each year has historically been low, with about 7,400 deaths annually, according to the American Cancer Society. The researchers were able to reduce the intensity of the chemotherapy in the study when Taxotere [...]

6/6/2006 Atlanta, GA Kawanza Newson TheState.com A vaccine against cervical cancer also prevents other types of gynecological cancers and could lower the incidence of tumors in the head and neck, too, according to a new study released Sunday. "If we vaccinate everybody in the U.S., we could probably impact head and neck cancer in approximately 20 years," said Marshall R. Posner, an associate professor at Harvard Medical School and medical director of the head and neck oncology program at Dana-Farber Cancer Institute in Boston. On Sunday, researchers at a cancer meeting in Atlanta released data showing that Gardasil, manufactured by Merck & Co., was 100 percent effective in preventing vaginal and vulvar cancers associated with the human papillomavirus, or HPV, in more than 18,000 women and adolescents from the United States, South America and Asia. For the study, researchers gave females ages 15-26 up to three doses of the vaccine over a six-month period and followed them for two years. None of the women who received the vaccination developed HPV-related vaginal or vulvar precancers, compared to 24 women in the control group. "In human disease, there has never been a vaccine this effective," said Jorma Paavonen, the professor and chief in the department of obstetrics and gynecology at the University of Helsinki in Finland who presented the study. "It's going to make a major impact and we certainly hope, in the future, this vaccine will be part of the national vaccine program, not only in the U.S., but elsewhere in [...]

6/6/2006 Iowa City, IA staff CancerConsultants.com According to an article recently published in Bone Marrow Transplantation, sucking on ice chips may help to prevent oral mucositis associated with high doses of the chemotherapy agent Alkeran® (melphalan). Oral mucositis (OM) is a common side effect among patients undergoing high-dose cancer therapy and stem cell transplantation. In OM therapy causes damage to the lining of the mouth and digestive system, which can range from irritation to severe pain and ulceration. If OM becomes severe, it can cause so much pain that patients are not able to swallow and need a feeding tube or a tube placed in a vein (total parenteral nutrition or TPN) for nutrition and hydration. Furthermore, OM can lead to a full-body infection and/or a delay in treatment, which may ultimately result in suboptimal outcomes. Researchers continue to evaluate the optimal ways to manage or, ideally, prevent OM in patients treated with high doses of therapy. Researchers from the Fred Hutchinson Cancer Research Center recently conducted a clinical trial to evaluate the effectiveness of ice chips to prevent or reduce OM in patients treated with high doses of Alkeran. This trial included 40 patients with multiple myeloma. Twenty-one patients received ice chips (cryotherapy) 30 minutes prior to treatment and continued to use the ice chips for six hours. Nineteen patients received normal saline instead of ice chips. Severe OM occurred in 14% of patients treated with ice chips, compared with 74% of patients treated with saline. Individuals treated with [...]

6/6/2006 United Kingdom staff DailyRecord.co.uk A NEW cocktail of lifesaving drugs could save thousands of cancer sufferers. Experts at a major American health conference revealed the breakthrough in the treatment of head and neck cancer yesterday. They hope the combination of medicines will allow patients with the disease to talk without the use of a voice machine. It could also help people with one of the most devastating forms of cancer to eat and drink normally. In a study of 500 patients, the drug cocktail doubled the survival of patients beyond an average of three years. Most cancer patients on the treatment were still alive after nearly six years.

6/6/2006 Hartford, CT Hilary Waldman Hartford Courant (courant.com) A new cervical cancer vaccine headed for FDA approval this month could also put a dent in new cases of oral cancer - one of the deadliest cancers in the United States. At least one-quarter of oral cancer cases may be linked to human papillomavirus, the same sexually transmitted bug that causes cervical cancer. "In 10 to 15 years, we're going to find many fewer head and neck cancers," said Brian Hill, founder and executive director of the Oral Cancer Foundation. Researchers started looking for new possible causes of oral cancer when tobacco use dropped precipitously in the United States but the incidence of oral cancer did not. About 30,000 people will be diagnosed with oral cancer in the United States this year, and only half of them will be alive in five years. The death rate for oral cancer is higher than that for cancer of the cervix, brain, liver, testicles, kidney or skin and for Hodgkins disease, a type of blood cancer. Six years ago, researchers at Johns Hopkins School of Medicine looked at 253 patients with head and neck tumors and found HPV-16 - the tumor-causing strain of the virus - in 25 percent of those patients. HPV-positive tumors are most likely to occur in the throat and tonsils and appear to be more responsive to treatment than tumors that are not associated with the virus. Although the presence of HPV in head and neck tumors has not yet [...]

5/31/2006 Australia press release Biocompare.com A recent scientific discovery could herald the introduction of fast, effective treatments for cancer and viruses. In a paper published in the May edition of Nature Biotechnology, scientists describe how they have manipulated a process that occurs naturally throughout the human body, into a potential therapeutic tool. "The process, called RNA interference, blocks the production of proteins that create cancer and viruses," said research leader and Director of the Monash Institute of Medical Research (MIMR), Professor Bryan Williams. "We've exploited this process by creating short interfering RNA, or siRNA, that are being developed into drugs to fight viruses and cancer," he said. "We've now taken this a step further and worked out how we can create siRNA with different cellular properties to target different diseases." While previous studies had demonstrated siRNA had the potential to be a potent anti-cancer and anti-viral agent, Professor Williams had shown there was a danger siRNA-based drugs could cause a dangerous inflammatory response. Professor Williams and his team have now discovered the physical structure of siRNA are key to creating effective anti-cancer and anti-viral drugs. This will allow both the development of siRNA-based drugs to react differently for different diseases. "By 'tweaking' the structure of siRNA to target specific diseases, we can dictate whether we want a particular siRNA-based drug to block or promote an immune response, to increase the effectiveness of the treatment," he said. "While our research is at an early stage, human trials using siRNA are currently [...]

5/29/2006 Palo Alto, CA Karl Kingsley et al. Cancer Cell Int, May 22, 2006; 6(1): 14 Background: Human papillomavirus has been implicated in virtually all cervical cancers and is believed to be the primary etiological factor that transforms cervical epithelia. The presence of HPV in oral cancers suggests that HPV may play a similar role in transforming the oral epithelia. The prevalence of HPV in oral cancers is highly variable, however, presenting problematic issues regarding the etiology of oral cancers, which must be investigated more thoroughly. Past analyses of HPV in cancers of the oral cavity have largely been confined to retrospective studies of cancer patients. The purpose of this study was to examine the potential for HPV16 infection to alter the proliferative phenotype of oral squamous cell carcinoma in vitro. Results: This study found that the oral squamous cell carcinoma cell line, CAL27, transfected with HPV16, exhibited significantly increased proliferation, compared with non-transfected CAL27. The increased proliferation was observed under low density conditions, even in the absence of serum. Moreover, these effects were specific to proliferation, adhesion, and morphology, while cell viability was not affected. Conclusion: This study represents one of the first investigations of the effects of HPV16 infection on the proliferation, adhesion, and morphology of an oral squamous cell carcinoma cell line in vitro. The finding that HPV16 has the ability to measurably alter adhesion and proliferative potential is significant, indicating that HPV may have multiple influences on precancerous and cancerous lesions and should be explored as [...]

5/29/2006 Zurich, Switzerland G Studer et al. Radiat Oncol, January 1, 2006; 1(1): 7 Background: Preliminary very encouraging clinical results of intensity modulated radiation therapy (IMRT) in Head Neck Cancer (HNC) are available from several large centers. Tumor control rates seem to be kept at least at the level of conventional three-dimensional radiation therapy; the benefit of normal tissue preservation with IMRT is proven for salivary function. There is still only limited experience with IMRT using simultaneously integrated boost (SIB-IMRT) in the head and neck region in terms of normal tissue response. The aim of this work was (1) to establish tumor response in HNC patients treated with SIB-IMRT, and (2) to assess tissue tolerance following different SIB-IMRT schedules. Results: Between 1/2002 and 12/2004, 115 HNC patients have been curatively treated with IMRT. 70% received definitive IMRT (dIMRT), 30% were postoperatively irradiated. In 78% concomitant chemotherapy was given.SIB radiation schedules with 5-6 x 2 Gy/week to 60-70 Gy, 5 x 2.2 Gy/week to 66-68.2 Gy (according to the RTOG protocol H-0022), or 5 x 2.11 Gy/week to 69.6 Gy were used. After mean 18 months (10-44), 77% of patients were alive with no disease. Actuarial 2-year local, nodal, and distant disease free survival was 77%, 87%, and 78%, respectively. 10% were alive with disease, 10% died of disease. 20/21 locoregional failures occurred inside the high dose area. Mean tumor volume was significantly larger in locally failed (63 cc) vs controlled tumors (32 cc, p <0.01), and in definitive (43 cc) [...]

5/29/2006 Ahmedabad, India RN Sainger et al. Tumori, March 1, 2006; 92(2): 134-9 Aim and Background: The incidence and mortality due to oral cancer have increased worldwide. In India, the use of tobacco has been found to be the major etiological factor for the development of oral cancers. Various studies on serum p53 antibodies have suggested their clinical importance as prognostic markers in cancer. However, there is a dearth of data on serum p53 antibodies in oral cancer patients in India. The present study was carried to evaluate the clinical significance of serum p53 antibodies in oral cancer. Materials and Methods: The serum p53 antibody status was analyzed by means of ELISA in 55 healthy individuals, 60 patients with oral precancerous conditions, 75 untreated oral cancer patients, and 86 follow-up blood samples of the oral cancer patients. Results: We found serum p53 antibodies in 23% of cancer patients.The frequency of p53 antibody positivity was higher in patients with lymph node metastasis, advanced disease and well-differentiated tumors. Furthermore, p53 antibody positivity strongly correlated with poor treatment outcome in cancer patients. Kaplan-Meier survival analysis showed significantly poorer disease-free survival in patients with serum p53 antibodies. Conclusion: The results of this study suggest the usefulness of serum p53 antibodies in the prognostication of oral cancer patients.

5/29/2006 London, England Roosaar A, Yin L et al. British Dental Journal (2006); 200, 563 The natural course appeared benign in the great majority of lesions in this cohort. Oral lichen planus (OLP) is classed as a precancerous condition, but there is conflicting evidence on this matter from different studies. In 1973-4, subjects were investigated for oral mucosal lesions in a Swedish county, and a cohort of 327 with oral lichen lesions (OLLs) was identified. (In 1973-4, no distinction was made between OLP and oral lichenoid reaction, so the two categories were combined as OLL in this study.) In 1993-4, a sample of 80 subjects still living in the area was selected from the remaining 194, and 55 of them were re-examined. In this sample, 14 of 36 initial white lesions had resolved, while 4 had turned to red lesions. In 19 red lesions, 5 had resolved, and 4 had turned white. No malignancies were observed. For the whole cohort, in 2002, incidence of specified cancers (SIRs) and mortality from all and specific causes (SMRs) was identified from the excellent Swedish registries, and none was significantly elevated. The authors consider that OLLs carry a low risk of harm. Source: J Oral Pathol Med 2006; 35: 257-261