5/25/2005 Liverpool, England press release PR Newswire (www.prnewswire.com) Clinicians at the Clatterbridge Oncology Center, near Liverpool, today announced that they have commenced delivering a new and more precise form of radiotherapy called image-guided radiation therapy (IGRT) using a new robotic imaging device from Varian Medical Systems. A 75-year-old female cancer patient became the first person to be treated in the UK with an On Board Imager(TM) device, a new accessory that is designed to improve the precision and effectiveness of cancer treatments by giving doctors the ability to track and adjust for changes in tumor positions more accurately at the moment of treatment. Up to now, doctors have had to account for tumor motion by using broader beams that expose a significant margin of healthy tissue in the treatment area. The On Board Imager at Clatterbridge is the first of seven such systems scheduled for delivery to UK hospitals in the coming year. Dr. Philip Mayles, head of medical physics at Clatterbridge Oncology Center, said, "We only have one chance to cure a tumor and giving it as big a dose as we can, while treating as little of the normal tissue as possible, is obviously the best thing we can do for the patient. Bigger treatment margins really compromise what you can do for the patient but the On-Board Imager will enable even more accurate radiotherapy delivery with much smaller margins." The fully automated Varian system makes it possible for clinical staff to complete the advanced IGRT treatments within [...]

5/24/2005 Andrea J. Cohen, MD et al. Integrative Cancer Therapies, Vol. 4, No. 2, 131-143 (2005) Abstract: In recent studies, patients have reported an increased use of complementary and alternative medicine (CAM). Acupuncture is a popular complementary therapy for patients with cancer. This article will provide current cancer treatment providers with information on acupuncture as well as the research conducted on cancer symptoms and side effects of cancer treatments. Antiemetic studies are the most prevalent and contain the most promising results. Several studies have found that acupuncture significantly reduces the number of emesis (vomiting) episodes for patients receiving chemotherapy. While studies on pain control vary due to the heterogeneity of pain, there are few studies investigating pain caused from cancer and the removal of cancerous tumors. These studies, while promising, provide basic results that need further investigation for more definitive results. Although relatively few studies have been done on anxiety and depression, several researchers have found acupuncture to be just as effective as or more effective than antidepressants for patients without cancer. Studies on breathlessness, while small, have shown acupuncture to have a significant positive effect on chronic obstructive pulmonary disease, breathlessness associated with end-stage cancer, and asthma. Researchers studying xerostomic individuals who have received salivary gland irradiation found significant positive results in salivary flow rates compared to baseline. Patients with hot flashes due to hormonal imbalance may benefit from the use of acupuncture. A recent pilot study showed improvement of chronic postchemotherapy fatigue following acupuncture treatments. Many individuals with [...]

5/22/2005 Los Angeles, CA Deepa Bharath Daily Breeeze (dailybreeze.com) Bad habits almost took Ginny Shoren out. She survived a battle with tongue cancer and now tells her cautionary story to students. Fifteen years ago, Ginny Shoren was as far away from becoming a triathlete as a "Star Wars" movie is from bombing at the box office. The Hermosa Beach resident and substitute teacher was addicted to alcohol and smoked two packs of cigarettes a day. The alcohol habit she managed to shake off, but not before the forces of life made her get on her knees and beg for help. Looking back, Shoren realizes that her tryst with alcoholism was not half as bad as her furious fight with tongue cancer, which forced her to stop smoking. Now she helps others who are in the predicament she was in not long ago. Shoren, 57, told a sixth-grade class at Manhattan Beach Middle School on Friday about her long journey, from addict to athlete. On June 5, Shoren will participate in the Danskin Women's Triathlon at Bonelli Park in San Dimas, which will include a half-mile swim, 13-mile bike ride and 3.1-mile run or walk. The event raises money for what is now Shoren's favorite cause -- cancer research. "Years ago, the only way I'd run was if someone chased me with a gun," she said, as some middle school students laughed and others smiled. Diagnosed in May 2001, Shoren lost part of her tongue, the floor of her mouth and [...]

5/22/2005 Boston, MA Z Wang Curr Pharm Des, January 1, 2005; 11(14): 1771-7 Oral cancer is challenging for clinicians due to its high mortality and increasing incidence rate. Cyclooxygenase-2 (COX-2) is extensively expressed in oral cancer and oral premalignant lesions and seems to be enhanced specifically in high-risk oral lesions. Mounting evidence suggests that these inhibitors may represent a promising approach for chemoprevention or treatment of oral cancer. This review reports on Medline and PubMed literature searches of published articles from 1995 to 2003. Our purpose is to provide a comprehensive examination and discussion of the potential role of COX-2 in oral cancer development and the use of COX-2 inhibitors for oral cancer chemoprevention or treatment. The data in the literature strongly indicate that COX-2 is significantly upregulated in oral cancer and premalignant lesions, and we believe that inhibition of COX-2 would suppress development of oral lesions by affecting several pathways of oral carcinogenesis. Therefore, the COX-2 inhibitors should be investigated as a new treatment, particularly new chemoprevention agents, for patients who are at high risk for developing oral cancer. Author's affiliation: Department of Otolaryngology - Head and Neck Surgery, Boston Medical Center, Boston University School of Medicine, Boston, Massachusetts, USA

5/21/2005 Washington, DC Greg Flakus Voice of America News (voanews.com) Doctors and researchers from 17 cancer organizations in 11 countries are in Houston for the first annual Sister Institution Conference at The University of Texas Medical Center's MD Anderson Cancer Center. The goal is to share knowledge and technology in an effort to fight the various forms of cancer worldwide. Dozens of doctors and cancer researchers from Asia, Latin America and Europe are seeing the future of cancer treatment firsthand while attending this conference. Among other things, they have been able to tour MD Anderson Cancer Center's new proton-therapy facility, which is still under construction and will not open until January of next year. Angel Francisco Campos, an oncologist from Spain, says he is very impressed. He says cancer therapy has advanced a lot and that MD Anderson is one of the great research centers. He is hoping to establish a formal sister-institution relationship between the Houston hospital and his institution in Madrid, the Spanish Central Defense Department Hospital. MD Anderson's Vice President for Extramural Programs, Doctor Thomas Brown, says the idea behind the sister-institution program is to promote more such collaboration with other research centers worldwide. "We have identified through a series of efforts like-minded institutions throughout the world that are the premier educational, research or patient-care facilities in their respective areas, engaged in cancer care and research, who are interested in pursuing a model of patient care that is driven by research," he said. One enthusiastic participant was [...]

5/20/2005 Ireland Deborah Condon Irish Health (irishhealth.com) More people die in Ireland every year as a result of oral and pharyngeal cancer (OPC), than malignant melanoma or cervical cancer. Yet the disease remains relatively unknown here, with most people failing to be diagnosed until they are at an advanced stage, new research has found. OPC is the sixth most common cancer worldwide, with 575,000 new cases and 200,000 deaths every year. It refers to cancer that originates in the mouth (oral cavity) or the pharynx, the part of the throat at the back of the mouth. Men are more likely to develop it than women and most cases occur in people over the age of 40. Two known causes of the disease are alcohol and tobacco use. In Ireland, around 300 new cases are diagnosed every year and 150 people die as a result. This death rate exceeds that of malignant melanoma, cervical cancer and Hodgkin's disease. Alcohol is one of the known causes of oral and pharyngeal cancer Despite this, OPC 'has a relatively low profile both among healthcare providers and patients', according to Dr Eleanor O'Sullivan of the Cork Dental School and Hospital in University College Cork. She analysed 370 cases of OPC in the south of Ireland and also looked at data from the International Agency for Research on Cancer, which is part of the World Health Organisation. Dr O'Sullivan found that while the outcome for OPC is extremely good if caught in the early stages, most [...]

5/18/2005 Orlando, FL & Darmstadt, Germany PharmaLive (www.medadnews.com) Merck KGaA of Darmstadt, Germany, today announced its continued investment in innovative therapies in oncology, supported by data presented at the 41st annual meeting of the American Society of Clinical Oncology (ASCO). Merck KGaA, known for the first-in-class EGFR-targeted monoclonal antibody, Erbitux® (cetuximab) that works by blocking the epidermal growth factor receptor (EGFR) to inhibit tumor growth and spread, has ongoing active development programs with additional novel therapies that may offer new hope to people with cancer. “These are exciting times in oncology,” said Dr. Bernhard Ehmer, Vice President, Business Area Oncology, Merck KGaA. “With a better understanding of the growth and spread of tumors, we are able to develop treatments that target the cancer cells and give physicians and their patients additional options with which to fight cancer. We are particularly excited by Erbitux not only in the treatment of colorectal cancer but also in its potential in head and neck cancer and by BLP25 Liposome Vaccine (L-BLP25), which is showing impressive results in the treatment of non-small cell lung cancer. Furthermore, our humanized EGFR-targeting monoclonal antibody matuzumab is showing potential in several types of cancer.” Erbitux Consistent findings in clinical trials supports the use of Erbitux in different treatment settings, and several presentations at ASCO focused on the results of studies of Erbitux in the treatment of various stages of colorectal cancer, squamous cell carcinoma of the head and neck (SCCHN) and non-small cell lung cancer (NSCLC). Study results presented [...]

5/17/2005 Paris, France press release Business Wire (www.businesswire.com) BioAlliance Pharma, a biopharmaceutical company focused on the field of drug resistance, announced today that a randomized Phase III trial evaluating the Company's miconazole Lauriad(R) 50mg Bioadhesive Buccal Tablets in head and neck cancer patients suffering from oropharyngeal candidiasis following radiotherapy, demonstrated efficacy with 10 times less drug and on a more convenient schedule than the miconazole oral gel comparator. These results suggest definite potential for better compliance in treating oropharyngeal candidiasis in patients with altered mucosa and xerostomia. The study (Abstract #5527) of 306 patients conducted at 36 clinical sites in France and North Africa was presented at the 41st Annual Meeting of the American Society of Clinical Oncology (ASCO) in Orlando, Florida. "These results represent an important medical advance for the local treatment of oropharyngeal candidiasis," said Dominique Costantini, M.D., president and CEO of BioAlliance Pharma. "Our goal is to provide physicians with an effective option for local treatment of this fungal infection that obviates the need to prescribe systemic therapies due to its enhanced potential for improved patient compliance and avoidance of systemic drug-drug interaction and development of drug resistance." Study Objectives The main objective was to demonstrate that the efficacy of the miconazole Lauriad(R) 50mg Bioadhesive Buccal Tablet administered once daily for 14 days, was not inferior to that of miconazole oral gel 500mg delivered in 4 divided doses for 14 days. Secondary objectives were to compare other efficacy criteria at days 7 and 14, and the safety [...]

5/17/2005 New York, NY Nicholas Bakalar New York Times (www.nytimes.com) Infectious disease used to be a simple matter: this germ causes that illness. Doctors just had to find the germ, kill it, and cure the disease. But the old rules no longer apply. A report issued last month by the American Academy of Microbiology paints a much more complex picture of infectious disease. Germs, scientists are learning, are probably the cause of many illnesses that were never thought to be infectious, and determining exactly how a germ contributes to disease is no longer simple. The old rules date to 1883, when the German bacteriologist Robert Koch laid down three laws - now called Koch's postulates - that infectious disease specialists have used ever since to determine whether an organism causes a disease: The suspected germ must be consistently associated with the disease; it must be isolated from the sick person and cultured in the laboratory; and experimental inoculation with the organism must cause the symptoms of the disease to appear. In 1905, a fourth rule was added: The organism must be isolated again from the experimental infection. Using Koch's postulates as a starting point, scientists figured out the cause, prevention and treatment for one infectious disease after another. In the mid-20th century, some experts began to believe that infectious disease might be permanently conquered. But microbes have been found to metamorphose into new and more destructive forms, to jump from animals to humans, to hide where they are hard to [...]

5/17/2005 Mumbai, India Anand Giridharadas International Herald Tribune Asia-Pacific The way some tell it, there is nothing paan won't do. They say it is a stimulant, breath freshener and strengthener of gums. It raises sperm count and lowers blood pressure. It releases oxytocin, the love hormone, and blood chemicals believed by ancient Hindus to rouse motherly affection There is more. Paan ingredients are said to hone memory, ease depression and forestall aging. It is a cancer therapy that doubles as lipstick. Not bad for an egg-sized snack consisting of a betel-nut leaf draped around a polychrome blend of slaked lime, shredded betel nuts, tree-bark extract and rose-petal preserves. Every night in this vast subcontinent and across India's global diaspora, tens, maybe hundreds, of millions of Indians pop a paan. At its simplest, it offers both digestive penance for the sins of a too-heavy meal and a chemical boost to keep drooping eyelids aloft till bedtime. It is something like an antacid tablet and an shot of espresso rolled into one "There is an old relationship of man with stimulants: He has sought to be stimulated from anything which is organic around him, like tea leaves and coffee," said Mahesh Bhatt, a top Bollywood film director and a paan chewer. "That is an essential need that paan fulfills in the paan-chewing population of this country - that it gives them a kick. It is oral pleasure." But increasingly, despite that kick and ancient healers' view of it as a cure-all, paan [...]