9/9/2005 Houston, TX staff CancerWise (www.cancerwise.com) Goal is to Predict, Prevent Return of Stage I, II Disease Lung cancer is the number one cause of cancer-related deaths in the United States and worldwide, but a rising tide of research focused on increasing survival and preventing recurrence hopes to change that sobering statistic. Armed with a five-year grant from the Department of Defense, M. D. Anderson is conducting a clinical trial to increase screening of lung cancer and head and neck cancer survivors, and to test adjuvant therapies that may keep cancer from coming back. Long-time smokers with skin or lung cancer targeted The two-part clinical trial is known as VITAL: Vanguard Investigations of Therapeutic Approaches to Lung Cancer. It focuses on current or former smokers who have completed treatment for Stage I or II non-small cell lung cancer or head and neck squamous cell cancer. Trial participants must have: Stage I/II lung or head and neck cancer A smoking history of at least 20 years Completed either of the following: Surgery or radiation no less than six months earlier Chemotherapy (adjuvant) no less than three months earlier “We want to focus on this population of patients because they are at risk of developing recurrences and new primary cancers largely based on their high-risk profile including smoking history,” says the trial’s co-principal investigator Edward Kim, M.D., an assistant professor in M. D. Anderson’s Department of Thoracic/Head and Neck Medical Oncology. Survival statistics emphasize the need for the trial Even if patients [...]

9/9/2005 SS Ingram et al J Am Geriatr Soc, September 1, 2005; 53(9): 1504-9 Objectives: To describe the long-term effects of oral health problems on quality of life (QoL), functional status, pain, and general health in older male cancer patients. Design: Secondary analysis of a prospective observational study. Setting: Community dwelling cancer patients served by a Department of Veterans Affairs hospital. Participants: One hundred fifty male cancer patients responded to the question "Do you have tooth or mouth problems making it hard to eat?" The relationship between patients answering "yes" and the following parameters was assessed: demographics, comorbid conditions, habits, activities of daily living, pain, anxiety, depression, social support, spirituality, QoL, and overall health ratings. Measurements: Chi-square contingency tables for dichotomous variables, Cochran-Mantel-Haenszel for ordered categorical variables, and t tests for associations with continuous variables. Results: The median age of respondents was 67. Those reporting tooth or mouth problems had had their cancer diagnosed on average 2.9 years before, and 83.3% were found clinically to be cancer free. Patients with these problems had significantly lower global (P=.003) and subscale scores on QoL analysis and higher levels of anxiety (P<.001) and depression (P=.01) than those without tooth or mouth problems; they also had significantly more pain (P<.001) and lower physical functioning (P<.001) and were more impaired in activities of daily living (P<.001). Those with tooth or mouth problems were more likely to describe their overall health as fair or poor (P=.01). Having cancer located in the head and neck region related [...]

9/9/2005 Kwok seng Loh et al Head Neck, August 31, 2005 Background: The purpose of this study was to determine the detection rate of lung metastasis or a synchronous lung primary tumor in patients with newly diagnosed head and neck mucosal squamous cell carcinoma (SCC) and to determine factors that are associated with positive findings. Methods: This was a prospective cohort study of 102 patients with head and neck mucosal SCC diagnosed in a tertiary cancer center. Chest x-rays and a CT scan of the thorax were performed. An indeterminate nodule on CT scan was followed with either a repeat scan to assess progression or a CT-guided needle biopsy. Metastasis or synchronous lung primary tumor were determined by CT scan. The findings were correlated with age, sex, duration of symptoms, site of primary tumor, grade of tumor, T classification, and N classification. Results: A CT scan of the thorax showed abnormalities or suspicious nodules in 20 patients (19.6%). With either follow-up scans or CT-guided biopsy, 10 patients were eventually proven to have pulmonary metastasis and one a synchronous lung primary tumor. Of those eleven patients (10.8%), seven had normal chest x-ray. Eight (72.7%) of 11 patients with a positive CT scan had N2 or N3 disease in contrast to 32 (35.2%) of 91 patients with a normal CT scan (p = .02). Seven patients (63.6%) with a positive CT scan had T4 disease, whereas 34 (37.4%) with a normal CT scan had T4 disease (p = .08). Primary tumors arising [...]

9/9/2005 Houston, TX staff Medical News Today (medicalnewstoday.com) A new study has found that the farnesyltransferase inhibitor SCH66336, which inhibits the growth of non-small-cell lung cancer (NSCLC), appears to inhibit the angiogenic activities of NSCLC and head and neck squamous cell carcinoma (HNSCC) cells. Despite therapeutic advances, the outcomes for people diagnosed with aerodigestive tract cancers such as NSCLC and HNSCC remain poor, and most patients with these cancers die from metastatic disease. SCH66336, in combination with other receptor tyrosine kinase inhibitors, has been shown to inhibit the growth of NSCLC cells. Ho-Young Lee, Ph.D., of the University of Texas M. D. Anderson Cancer Center in Houston, and colleagues investigated whether SCH66336 also inhibits angiogenesis of aerodigestive tract cancer cells. They found that SCH66336 appears to inhibit angiogenic activity of NSCLC and HNSCC cells by inhibiting the interaction between hypoxia-inducible factor 1 alpha and heat shock protein 90 and thus decreasing hypoxia-inducible factor 1 alpha expression. The authors conclude that their results provide a new rationale for the use of farnesyltransferase inhibitors as inhibitors of tumor angiogenesis in aerodigestive cancer.

9/9/2005 New Rochelle, NY press release Business Wire (home.businesswire.com) China set a new milestone in the history of gene therapy with its approval of Gendicine, a recombinant adenovirus encoding human p53 tumor suppressor gene, for the treatment of head and neck squamous cell carcinoma, and Gendicine is now the core of the country's active clinical gene therapy program, according to a report in the September 2005 issue (Volume 16, Number 9) of Human Gene Therapy, a peer-reviewed journal published by Mary Ann Liebert, Inc. The paper is available free online at www.liebertpub.com/hum. Zhaohui Peng, Ph.D., M.D., Chairman and CEO of SiBiono GeneTech, the company that produces Gendicine, and author of the report describes the activities leading up to the successful commercial launch of Gendicine, the educational campaign aimed at helping the general public understand gene therapy, the establishment of a production facility, and the technology and quality control measures employed to ensure the production of a safe and effective gene therapy product. In the paper, entitled, "Current Status of Gendicine in China: Recombinant Human Ad-p53 Agent for Treatment of Cancers," Peng emphasizes the importance of the Chinese government's supportive policy toward research and development efforts in human gene therapy. The review offers valuable new insights into the development of Gendicine as it provides a summary of clinical data supporting the recombinant adenoviral product, most of which has been published only in the Chinese literature and has not been easily accessible to researchers worldwide. "I was delighted that Dr. Peng was [...]

9/6/2005 New York, NY editorial Nature Structural & Molecular Biology 12, 729 (2005) By now everyone ought to know that smoking is bad for you. Even the United States government is seeking to hold tobacco companies accountable for the health risks of their products. Why, then, do so many people continue to use tobacco? Simply put, nicotine can make a person feel happy and relaxed, and it is as addictive as heroine and cocaine. While over 30% of smokers say they want to quit, most relapse within a few days of avoiding their tobacco product of choice, right when nicotine withdrawal symptoms reach their peak. Help is available for unhappy smokers, from nicotine patches to behavioral therapy, but the road to a nicotine-free life is still difficult for many. Therefore, researchers are working to develop drugs to inhibit nicotine metabolism. Such compounds would, in theory, keep the level of nicotine high in the blood, thus reducing nicotine cravings. On page 822 of this issue, we see the results of some of this work—the structure of the nicotine-metabolizing enzyme cytochrome P450 2A6 in complex with an inhibitor called methoxsalen. While methoxsalen, a drug currently approved for treating psoriasis, is not being touted as the holy grail of antismoking drugs, the authors of the study believe that their structure could aid in the design of other, more suitable inhibitors. The cytochrome P450 family of proteins comprises over 50 enzymes involved in metabolism. Potentially toxic substances are often acted upon by these enzymes [...]

9/6/2005 England staff CancerConsultants.com According to a study published in the journal The Lancet Oncology, head and neck cancer patients with low oxygen levels in their cancer cells have a better response to radiation therapy if they also receive a radiosensitizer (a drug that makes cancer cells more sensitive to radiation). Approximately 40,000 people in the United States are diagnosed with head and neck cancer every year. Cancers of the head and neck include cancers of the nasal cavity and sinuses, mouth, and throat. According to the American Cancer Society, 11,000 people died from head and neck cancer in 2004. 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. Among head and neck cancer patients receiving radiation therapy, the oxygen level in cancer cells influences the success of treatment. Radiation therapy is less successful when cancer cells have low oxygen levels. Unfortunately, many cancers, including head and neck cancers, tend to be hypoxic (lacking in oxygen). In order to overcome this problem, researchers are evaluating drugs that mimic oxygen in cancer cells. At this time, the US Food and Drug Administration (FDA) has not approved the use of these drugs, but researchers in Denmark have reported that use of one such drug, nimorazole, improves response to radiation therapy in head and neck cancer patients. Given the apparent benefit of nimorazole among head and [...]

9/6/2005 New York, NY Amy Dockser Marcus Wall Street Journal Researchers are working to unravel a medical mystery that they hope will lead to new ways to fight cancer: They're trying to figure out why people with Down syndrome are less likely to get certain common cancers than the general population, and why they respond better to treatment in other cancers. Recent research shows that people with Down syndrome, a genetic condition with a range of physical and intellectual disabilities, have a significantly lower-than-expected rate of breast cancer, lung cancer, mouth cancer and other common solid tumors. They are at significantly greater risk of getting a rare type of leukemia, called acute myeloid leukemia (AML), when they are children -- but they have a substantially higher survival rate and lower relapse rate than children in the general population. Now, studies are being done at Children's Hospital Boston, Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine, the University of Chicago, the Barbara Ann Karmanos Cancer Institute in Detroit, and other centers around the country, to find out why this is. By understanding the various characteristics of Down syndrome that relate to cancer, researchers hope to develop new cancer drugs, and identify specific targets for cancer treatments, that will benefit all patients. "Individuals with Down syndrome, who are too often viewed as a burden on society, have in fact provided us with a major clue that is fundamental to the health of everyone," says Roger H. Reeves, professor at the Johns Hopkins University School [...]

9/5/2005 London, England Jenny Bangham [email protected] The administration of chemotherapy together with anti-angiogenic drugs seems to be a particularly effective way of slowing tumour growth. However, this combination also poses some practical problems — cutting off the tumour blood supply makes it difficult to achieve a high drug concentration, and hypoxia can trigger the expression of chemotherapy-resistance genes. Now, a group led by Ram Sasisekharan has designed a sophisticated delivery system that gets around these complications — a 'nanocell' that localizes to tumours and then shuts down the tumour vasculature before delivering a cytotoxic agent to tumour cells. Their nanocell consists of a phosopholipid envelope and, inside it, a nanoparticle made of a biodegradable polymer. The researchers incorporated an anti-angiogenic agent — in this case combretastatin — into the liposome, and attached the chemotherapeutic agent doxorubicin to the nanoparticle. They found that combretastatin escapes rapidly from the lipid envelope, while the conjugated doxorubicin is freed more slowly, degrading into smaller, inactive fragments before breaking down further into free, active doxorubicin. These release kinetics correlate well with the effect of the nanocell combination on the tumour endothelium in vitro — the system caused the vasculature to collapse as early as 12 hours post-administration, and tumours to be completely ablated by 30 hours. The authors tested the therapeutic efficacy of this system in vivo using mice with B16:F10 melanomas and mice with Lewis lung carcinoma. They compared the effects of sequential drug delivery using nanocells with several other treatments —one or both [...]

9/5/2005 Phillipines Michael Hopkin [email protected] Oil may help stave off cancer, as long as you stick to the good stuff. Good news for lovers of extra-virgin olive oil: besides being delicious on salads, it also contains a compound that mimics the effects of ibuprofen. So a Mediterranean-style diet might give you the supposed long-term benefits of that drug, such as a reduced cancer risk. A daily dose of 50 g or 4 tablespoons of olive oil confers the equivalent of around 10% of the recommended ibuprofen dose for adult pain relief, say researchers led by Paul Breslin of the Monell Chemical Senses Center in Philadelphia, who discovered the effect. So although it won't cure a headache, it may give you some of the long-term benefits of repeated ibuprofen use, including helping to ward off Alzheimer's. The compound, called oleocanthal, acts in the same way as ibuprofen to stifle components of a pain pathway called the prostaglandin system. This is in spite of the two chemicals' very different structures, the team reports in Nature 1. The compound should be present in any extra-virgin oil, Breslin says. But concentrations will vary depending on a range of factors, such as the variety of olive, and the age of the olives at pressing. So how do you know which olive oil will give you the biggest dose? Simple, just go for the authentic Mediterranean taste, says Breslin. "Most supermarket-style extra-virgin olive oils will be relatively low in this compound," he explains. "But there are [...]