5/15/2006 Evergreen, VA staff Physorg.com We may look different on the outside, but inside we are all the same -so much has been scientifically proven. Research at the University of Bergen has shown that the pathways that lead to cancer are similar, no matter where you come from. At any rate, there are remarkable genetic similarities among cancer tumours from Norway, Sudan, Sri Lanka, India, the UK and Sweden. "We had actually expected to find a greater range of variation," says post-doctoral fellow Salah Osman Ibrahim of the University's Department of Biomedicine. He is first author of an article that has been published in the prestigious American journal "Clinical Cancer Research". The article is the product of collaboration among several departments and units at the University of Bergen, Western Norway Regional Health Trust and a number of national and international scientists. The researchers compared patients in Norway and Sudan with head and neck squamous cell carcinomas (HNSCC). There are wide variations in the global incidence of HNSCC, which is a form of cancer that seems to be more common in developing countries than in our art of the world. The aim of the study, therefore, was to find out whether differences in life-style, diet or ethnic background could explains these variations. The scientists used cDNA micro-matrix studies to compare patterns of gene expression in cancerous cells and cells from healthy tissue, in order to determine which genes had been switched on or off in the tumours. "We looked at a [...]

5/15/2006 Los Angeles, CA press release UCLA News (www.newsroom.ucla.edu) UCLA School of Dentistry researchers studying a basic human protein essential in processing and metabolizing RNA have discovered it works as a natural tumor suppressor effective against head and neck cancer. These findings are reported in the May 15 issue of Clinical Cancer Research, one of the leading peer‑reviewed journals of the American Association for Cancer Research. The protein, heterogeneous nuclear ribonucleoprotein G (hnRNP G), was until now perhaps the least investigated of a class of 30 ribonucleic acid-binding proteins with diverse biological functions. While the researchers readily detect hnRNP G in healthy skin tissue, they report they do not find the protein in the vast majority of precancerous and cancerous tissues. Moreover, the UCLA scientists present evidence that hnRNP G injected into human oral squamous cell carcinoma (HOSCC) cells is effective in inhibiting the proliferation and tumor-forming capacity of HOSCC in test tubes and in an animal model. While the scientists acknowledge that hnRNP G's particular mechanisms of action require further investigation, these findings suggest the protein's value in the development of new ways to diagnose and treat HOSCC. According to the National Cancer Institute, most head and neck cancers can be attributed to this type of cancer, which begins in the squamous cells that line the mucosal surfaces in the head and neck. It is estimated that nearly 40,000 people will develop a form of head and neck cancer this year. "If we know that hnRNP G is present [...]

5/15/2006 Portland, OR press release EurekAlert (www.eurekalert.org) An Oregon Health & Science University Cancer Institute research laboratory has developed a novel mouse model designed specifically to study the often devastating head and neck squamous cell cancers. Xiao-Jing Wang, M.D., Ph.D., and colleagues report their research breakthrough in the May 15 issue of Genes & Development. "This is the first animal model that mimics human head and neck cancer at both the pathological and the molecular levels with 100 percent incidence," Wang said. While scientists have identified some genes involved in head and neck squamous cell carcinoma (HNSCC), overall, progress has been hampered by the lack of an animal model to study the development and progression of the disease. "This model will provide a valuable tool to screen for novel therapeutic and preventive approaches for this often deadly cancer," said Wang, head of the Division of Molecular Biology of Head and Neck Cancer in the OHSU School of Medicine and a member of the OHSU Cancer Institute. Head and neck squamous cell carcinoma is the sixth most common cancer in the United States. It has a low survival rate - fewer than 50 percent of head and neck patients survive beyond five years, and this rate has not changed in the past 20 years, despite progress in developing therapies for other cancers. Patients are usually resistant to routine chemotherapy and radiation therapy. In addition, the quality of life for survivors is usually miserable because the location of the cancer often destroys [...]

5/15/2006 Wake Forest, IL press release Science Daily (www.sciencedaily.com) White blood cells from a strain of cancer-resistant mice cured advanced cancers in ordinary laboratory mice, researchers at Wake Forest University School of Medicine reported today. "Even highly aggressive forms of malignancy with extremely large tumors were eradicated," Zheng Cui, M.D., Ph.D., and colleagues reported in this week's on-line edition of Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences. The transplanted white blood cells not only killed existing cancers, but also protected normal mice from what should have been lethal doses of highly aggressive new cancers. "This is the very first time that this exceptionally aggressive type of cancer was treated successfully," said Cui. "Never before has this been done with any other therapy." The original studies on the cancer-resistant mice -- reported in 2003 -- showed that such resistance could be inherited, which had implications for inheritance of resistance in humans, said Mark C. Willingham, M.D., a pathologist and co-investigator. "This study shows that you can use this resistant-cell therapy in mice and that the therapy works. The next step is to understand the exact way in which it works, and perhaps eventually design such a therapy for humans." The cancer-resistant mice all stem from a single mouse discovered in 1999. "The cancer resistance trait so far has been passed to more than 2,000 descendants in 14 generations," said Cui, associate professor of pathology. It also has been bred into three additional mouse strains. About 40 percent of each generation inherits [...]

5/11/2006 Vienna, VA press release Yahoo Business News (biz.yahoo.com) CEL-SCI Corporation announces that the results of a long-term survival study of cancer patients treated with CEL-SCI's drug Multikine® will be presented at a scientific conference during May 2006. Specifically, the data relates to head & neck cancer patients treated with Multikine in a Phase II clinical trial concluded over 3.5 years ago. Data from the follow-up study indicate that Multikine treatment resulted in a substantial increase in the survival of head & neck cancer patients. In addition, Multikine treatment also improved the local regional control of the patients' tumors. Improved local regional control of the tumor is considered by many surgeons and oncologists to be an important measurement of the success of a head & neck cancer therapy. Both survival and local regional control of the tumor are stated endpoints in CEL-SCI's planned Phase III clinical trial. The Phase II study, which used the same Multikine treatment protocol as proposed for the Phase III trial, included advanced primary head & neck cancer patients who were scheduled for their first cancer treatment. The Multikine treatment was administered for three weeks prior to the standard treatment for head & neck cancer, surgery or surgery plus radiation/chemotherapy. Results from this study were published in a leading cancer publication, the Journal of Clinical Oncology (Timar et al, JCO, 23(15): May 2005). Head & neck cancer is an aggressive cancer that affects about 500,000 people per annum worldwide. About 92% of those cases are outside [...]

5/10/2006 Cambridge, MA press release Biocompare News (news.biocompare.com) A new technique devised by MIT engineers may one day help physicians detect cancerous tumors during early stages of growth. The technique allows nanoparticles to group together inside cancerous tumors, creating masses with enough of a magnetic signal to be detectable by a magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) machine. The work appears as the cover feature in the May issue of Angewandte Chemie International Edition, one of the world's leading chemistry journals. The research, which is just moving into animal testing, involves injecting nanoparticles (billionths of a meter in size) made of iron oxide into the body, where they flow through the bloodstream and enter tumors. Solid tumors must form new blood vessels to grow. But because this growth is so rapid in cancerous tumors, there are gaps in the endothelial cells that line the inside of the blood vessels. The nanoparticles can slip through these gaps to enter the tumors. Once inside the tumor, the nanoparticles can be triggered to group together by a mechanism designed by the MIT engineers. Specifically, certain enzymes, or proteases, inside the tumors cause the nanoparticles to "self-assemble" or stick together. The resulting nanoparticle clumps are too big to get back out of the gaps. Further, the clumps have a stronger magnetic signal than do individual nanoparticles, allowing detection by MRI. "We inject nanoparticles that will self-assemble when they are exposed to proteases inside of invasive tumors," said Sangeeta N. Bhatia, M.D., Ph.D., associate professor of the [...]

5/10/2006 Augusta, GA Toni Baker Medical College of Georgia (www.mcg.edu) The blood of patients with head and neck cancer appears to have unique patterns of protein expression that one day could serve as a screening test for the highly aggressive cancer that is often diagnosed too late, researchers say. Studies comparing protein expression in 78 patients with head and neck cancer to 68 healthy controls revealed numerous differences in protein expression, Medical College of Georgia researchers say. “We found scores and scores of proteins that were differentially expressed,” says Dr. Christine Gourin, MCG otolaryngologist specializing in head and neck cancer and the study’s lead author. “We found there are at least eight proteins whose expression significantly differs between controls and people with cancer.” This protein fingerprint correctly classified study participants as cancer patients with a high degree of sensitivity and specificity – 82 percent and 76 percent, respectively, according to research published in the current issue of Archives of Otolaryngology. “If these results hold up over time, they would suggest that this would be a good screening test for at-risk people,” Dr. Gourin says. “Right now there is no good, effective screening test for head and neck cancer short of physical examination. Unfortunately it takes the development of symptoms to warrant a visit to the doctor, such as a sore throat; ear, tongue or mouth pain; painful eating or swallowing; or a change in the voice. Sometimes the first sign is a lump in the neck which is already a [...]

5/9/2006 Baxter, AR staff The Baxter Bulletin (www.baxterbulletin.com) As more and more states and localities move to ban smoking in public places, the major tobacco companies are responding by marketing new smokeless tobacco products. In the past week, the nation's two largest tobacco manufacturers, Philip Morris and Reynolds American, each announced the test marketing of smokeless products aimed at smokers who want to quit. Unlike conventional spit tobacco, the new products, named Toboka and Camel Snus, are both designed to be spitless and will be marketed alongside PM's Marlboro cigarette brand and Reynold's Camel brand. Public health advocates greeted the move by the two industry giants with skepticism. "I think the companies are desperate to try to find a product that reduces (health) risk," said Greg Connolly, a professor at Harvard University School of Public Health. Connolly said smokeless tobacco poses different health problems from cigarettes, chiefly oral cancer and gum disease. Growing use of such products is "potentially a disaster" for public health, he believes, because it may discourage smokers from quitting. Taboka carries a surgeon general's warning that "this product is not a safe alternative to cigarettes." "The warning is well deserved," said Allen Hundley, program coordinator of Baxter County Tobacco Control Committee. "While it is true you won't get lung cancer from smokeless tobacco, your risk of oral cancer goes up 11 times compared to someone who does not use it. Unfortunately, oral cancer is rarely caught in time. Half of all people who contract it are [...]

5/9/2006 Davis, CA Maria Pavia et al. American Journal of Clinical Nutrition, Vol. 83, No. 5, 1126-1134, May 2006 Background: Oral cancer ranks as the seventh most common form of cancer worldwide. Recent reports have examined the effect of fruit and vegetable intake on the risk of oral cancer, but results are controversial. Objective: A meta-analysis was performed to arrive at quantitative conclusions about the contribution of fruit and vegetable intakes to the occurrence of oral cancer. Design: A comprehensive, systematic bibliographic search of medical literature published up to September 2005 was conducted to identify relevant studies. Separate meta-analyses were conducted for fruit and vegetable consumption. The effect of portion or daily intake of fruit or vegetables on the risk of oral cancer was calculated. A multivariate meta-regression analysis was performed to explore heterogeneity. This multivariate meta-regression analysis examined the effect of quality score, the type of cancers included, citrus fruit and green vegetable consumption, and the time interval for dietary recall of the studies on the role of fruit or vegetable consumption in the risk of oral cancer. The presence of publication bias was assessed with a funnel plot for asymmetry. Results: Sixteen studies (15 case-control studies and 1 cohort study) met the inclusion criteria and were included in the meta-analysis. The combined adjusted odds ratio (OR) estimates showed that each portion of fruit consumed per day significantly reduced the risk of oral cancer by 49% (OR: 0.51; 95% CI: 0.40, 0.65). For vegetable consumption, the meta-analysis showed a [...]

5/9/2006 Chicago, IL staff WLS-TV (abclocal.go.com) According to the American Cancer Society, nearly 19,000 brain or spinal cord cancers were diagnosed in 2005 in the United States. Radiation is often used to shrink these tumors. With standard radiotherapy, either the whole brain or parts of the brain are radiated. However, more than just the tumor receives that radiation, and healthy tissue is also harmed. Because of this, radiation doses in a single treatment session are kept low to avoid major damage. Stereotactic radiosurgery devices are becoming more and more popular. This kind of radiotherapy allows higher doses of radiation to be delivered in a single treatment session. Because a high dose is used, it's vital that the radiation is only directed at the tumor and not healthy tissue. There have been many advances in radiosurgery devices over the last decade and as a result, there are nearly 30,000 radiosurgical procedures performed each year across the world. Getting Better: A new system, called Novalis Shaped Beam Surgery, is taking radiosurgery to new heights. Using multi-directional radiation beams, Novalis wraps a three-dimensional volume of radiation dose around tumors. By conforming to the contours of the tumor, the radiation is delivered in high doses to the tumor and avoids healthy brain tissue. The radiation beams are continuously adjusted during the treatment to match the shape of the tumor from numerous angles. This ensures the tumor gets the full prescription dose of radiation, while healthy brain tissue is protected. Why It's a Step Above: [...]