5/14/2005 Orlando, FL press release EurekAlert (www.eurekalert.com) Adding a third drug to a standard chemotherapy combination can dramatically improve the survival of patients with advanced head and neck cancer, according to a study led by researchers at Dana-Farber Cancer Institute in Boston. The findings will be presented at the American Society of Clinical Oncology's annual meeting. Previous studies have shown that using combination chemotherapy of cisplatin and 5-fu yields a 25 to 50 percent rate of complete pathological responses (the tumor disappeared). Robert Haddad, MD, and his colleagues found that adding the drug docetaxel (Taxotere) to the cisplatin and 5-fu regimen significantly increased the complete pathological response rate to 89 percent. The data (Abstract 5511) will be presented as a poster discussion session on Saturday, May 14, at 1 p.m., Level 4, 414. Using data obtained from treating 72 patients with locally advanced squamous cell carcinoma of the head and neck, the researchers project that the three-drug combination would result in a 95 percent two-year survival rate and a 90 percent five-year survival rate. The majority of these patients have stage IV disease. "These results are very encouraging and in all likelihood will translate into a significantly more effective treatment for patients with advanced head and neck cancer," says Haddad. "This patient population historically has had a poor prognosis, but, given these findings, the outlook is more hopeful." The drug combination is given for three cycles as an initial treatment, known as induction chemotherapy, to shrink tumors prior to several [...]

5/13/2005 Philadelphia, PA press release Eureka Alert (www.eurekalert.com) Dramatically reduce physical trauma for head & neck cancer patients For patients with cancer of the mouth and throat, surgery is a frequent course of treatment, often leading to speech and swallowing dysfunction and external scarring. Researchers from the University of Pennsylvania School of Medicine's Department of Otorhinolaryngology/Head and Neck Surgery, have completed two studies – the most comprehensive and largest to date – that demonstrate the effective use of the daVinci Surgical Robotic SystemÒ to perform Trans-Oral Robotic Surgery (TORS) which greatly reduces surgical trauma for patients. Their initial findings will be presented Monday, May 16th at 11:45 a.m., at the combined annual meetings of otorhinolaryngology (ear, nose and throat) experts – the Triologic Society, May 13th through16th, in Boca Raton, Florida. Penn physicians anticipate that the application of the daVinci System to treat mouth and throat cancers will allow for complete tumor removal while helping to preserve voice and swallowing function. "The daVinci Robot has been FDA-approved and successfully integrated into cardiac and urologic surgery. Patients are reaping the benefits with decreased bleeding, less pain, and are able to return to work sooner," said otorhinolaryngologist Neil G. Hockstein, MD, who served as lead investigator for both studies. "I saw the potential to apply the attributes of surgical robotics to the treatment of head and neck cancer and we've successfully devised novel approaches to introduce the robotic arms through the mouth into the throat and voice box." For head and neck [...]

5/13/2005 Orlando, FL Lynne Peterson MedPage Today (www.medpagetoday.com) The most important meeting of the year devoted to the frustrating but relentless pursuit of better treatments of cancer begins tomorrow. It is a critical meeting for cancer doctors to hear the latest approaches to helping their patients live extra weeks, months, or even years. The oncologists will be looking to see how to use drugs to bypass refractory disease and how to outsmart tumors that have developed drug resistance. They will be listening to reports on whether drugs should be given in the adjuvant setting, neoadjuvant setting, or not at all in conjunction with surgery. They will hear reports on chemoradiation plus surgery, or radiation alone, or surgery alone. The variety of reports will be dizzying. For the pharmaceutical industry, a report that a new drug has an effect against a major cancer can add hundreds of millions of dollars, or more, to their fortunes. It doesn't have to be a big advance for a new drug, or a new way to use an older drug. In the cancer world, it's extremely rare to see a home run. Singles are rare enough. As always there will be a mountain of data presented during the annual meeting of the American Society of Clinical Oncology, known far and wide as ASCO. But the really "big" findings may sound familiar because the pharmaceutical companies have already released broad-brush accounts -- minus key details -- of some of the most anticipated reports. But the devil [...]

5/11/2005 Rochester, MN Mayo Clinic Staff Mayo Clinic Medical Services Question: My dentist told me to avoid using mouthwash that contains alcohol because it increases the risk of cancer. Is alcohol in mouthwash harmful? Mayo Clinic Staff Response: Alcohol and tobacco are the two main risk factors for head and neck cancer. If you use one or the other, you have an increased risk. If you use both, your risk is even higher. Because many mouthwashes contain alcohol, concerns have been raised about whether the use of these mouthwashes may increase the risk of head and neck cancer. But there's no clear evidence that this is true. If you don't drink alcohol or use tobacco, your risk of head or neck cancer from using alcohol-based mouthwashes is likely very small. If you already use tobacco and alcohol, stop using tobacco and reduce the overall amount of alcohol you drink.

5/10/2005 Austin, TX press release Pharmalive.com Introgen Therapeutics, Inc. is highlighted in the May 2005 issue of Nature Biotechnology in a feature story titled, "Gene Therapy: cursed or inching towards credibility?" The feature, written by Malorye A. Branca, charts the successes and challenges of developing gene based therapies. David G. Nance, Introgen’s President and Chief Executive Officer, is quoted in the Nature Biotechnology article about the advancements in the United States in moving gene therapy products closer to approval. Introgen has recently applied for Accelerated Approval with the FDA as part of its product licensing process for ADVEXIN®, currently in two Phase 3 studies for head and neck cancer. "As the gene therapy field continues its advances, I am reminded of the similarities with development and commercialization of monoclonal antibody therapies," said Mr. Nance. "After much initial promise, monoclonal antibody therapies fell out of favor. Over time, however, the powerful technology was translated into products that are now an important part of standard medical care. I have no doubt that gene therapies will translate into important products, and will define an era in which medicines can be used to treat disease at the fundamental, molecular level. The Nature Biotechnology article chronicles part of the journey, illustrates how far we have come, and heralds the arrival of gene therapy as a commercial product." Introgen’s most advanced product development efforts have focused on gene therapy product candidates, such as the p53 tumor suppressor gene, that are clinically delivered to tumors using specially [...]

5/8/2005 Japan T Ikebe et al. Int J Oral Maxillofac Surg, April 30, 2005 Oral mucositis is a dose-limiting toxic effect of radiotherapy and chemotherapy on oral cancer. The purpose of the present study is to assess the relationship between tumor response and oral mucositis in preoperative radiochemotherapy for oral cancer retrospectively. Fifty-four cases of oral squamous cell carcinoma were treated with concurrent radiochemotherapy prior to surgery. When oral mucositis was evaluated with the WHO scale, severe oral mucositis (Grades 3 and 4) developed in 22 cases (41%). A more than 50% reduction in tumor size was clinically observed in 38 cases (70%). From histopathological analysis of the surgical specimens all tumor cells observed appeared to be non-viable in 16 cases (29%). The cases with Grade 1, Grade 2, Grade 3 and Grade 4 oral mucositis included 33%, 62%, 85% and 89% of clinical good-response cases and 0%, 24%, 31% and 55% of histopathological good-response cases, respectively. This retrospective study suggests that severe oral mucositis promises a good response of oral squamous cell carcinoma to radiochemotherapy. Authors: T Ikebe, K Seki, S Nakamura, Y Takenoshita, H Nakayama, M Shinohara, and K Shirasuna Authors Affiliation: Department of Oral and Maxillofacial Surgery, Sensory and Motor Organ Sciences, Faculty of Medical and Pharmaceutical Sciences, Kumamoto University, 1-1-1 Honjyo, Kumamoto 860-8556, Japan; Section of Oral and Maxillofacial Surgery, Faculty of Dental Science, Kyushu University, Fukuoka 812-8582, Japan

5/6/2005 Hokinsville, KY Karen Campbell Kentucky New Era Rick Bender started using tobacco when he was 12. At 26, he was diagnosed with mouth cancer. He lost half of his jaw and a third of his tongue. He was given two years to live. "I am lucky to be alive today," said the Cadiz resident. "I want to use my second chance to tell as many people as I can about the dangers of tobacco of all kinds." Bender travels to schools around the country spreading his message. He also takes his "No Snuff" campaign to corporations. He speaks to professional baseball players about the importance of being role models and has been part of public service announcements on MTV. The underlying theme of his presentation tells of the dangers of spit tobacco, but he stresses that tobacco is tobacco and in any form it kills. "It does not matter, roll it in a cigarette, stuff it in a pipe or just (put) a pinch between your cheek and gum. It is all the same and it will kill you," Bender told the children. In 45 minutes he told North Drive Middle School students his story -- how he got started, what happened because of his use and the effects he lives with today. But he also talked to them about other people's stories and showed them slides of warning signs www.sfa.univ-savoie.fr. As he spoke to sixth-graders about operations, physical effects that never go away, and being given two years [...]

5/6/2005 Toronto, Canada based on press release CancerConsultants Oncology Center (patient.cancerconsultants.com) According to a recently completed clinical trial, a vaccine that is injected directly into the site(s) of cancer produces promising results in patients with head and neck cancer who have stopped responding to standard therapies. Approximately 40,000 people in the United States are diagnosed with head and neck cancer every year. Cancers of the head and neck comprise several types of cancer, including the nasal cavity and sinuses, oral cavity, nasopharynx, oropharynx, and other sites located in the head and neck area. Once the cancer stops responding to standard therapeutic approaches, which typically consists of chemotherapy and/or radiation therapy, it is referred to as “refractory”. Patients with refractory head and neck cancer currently have very limited effective treatment options, with overall survival being dismal in this group of patients. There are currently no treatment modalities that have demonstrated an improvement in survival in the treatment of refractory head and neck cancer. Several clinical trials are underway to evaluate novel therapeutic approaches for the treatment of this disease. A novel vaccine Proxinium™ recently completed an early-phase clinical trial in the evaluation of advanced head and neck cancer. Proxinium™ is comprised of a monoclonal antibody, which is a protein that is targeted against and binds to a specific component of a cell. The monoclonal antibody portion of Proxinium™ is targeted against EpCAM, a molecule that is often highly expressed in head and neck cancer cells. Proxinium™ also contains the toxin produced [...]

5/5/2005 Tzu-Chen Yen, MD, PhD et al. Journal of Nuclear Medicine Vol. 46 No. 5 775-781 This prospective, nonrandomized, case-control study evaluated the impact of 18F-FDG PET in staging untreated squamous cell carcinoma of the buccal mucosa (BSCC) and compared the results with CT/MRI and histopathology. Methods: Between January 2002 and April 2004, 102 untreated BSCC patients with cM0 (no evidence of distant metastatic focus on chest radiograph, liver ultrasonograph, and bone scan) were enrolled with either conventional work-up (CWU, n = 51) or PET (CWU+PET, n = 51). All were monitored for at least 6 mo. The comparative diagnostic efficacies of PET and CT/MRI were evaluated using the area under the receiver-operating-characteristic curve (AUC). The primary endpoint was the percentage reduction in futile surgery (preoperative detection of distant metastatic lesions). The secondary endpoint was the 2-y cumulative recurrence rate among study participants (with PET) compared with that of comparable control subjects (without PET). Results: Significant benefits of PET compared with those of CT/MRI for BSCC patients were in the detection of locoregional (AUC, 0.973 vs. 0.928; P = 0.026), regional (AUC, 0.939 vs. 0.837; P = 0.026), and level II (AUC, 0.974 vs. 0.717; P = 0.02) lymph nodes. Two percent (1/51) of the patients experienced a reduction in futile surgery in the CWU+PET group compared with 0% (0/51) in the CWU group. However, no statistical difference was found in the 2-y locoregional control rate between the CWU and the CWU+PET groups. Conclusion: The role of 18F-FDG PET for [...]