4/17/2005 Gaithersburg, MD press release PRSNewswire HPV DNA testing is 'more sensitive than cervical cytology' in detecting high grade cervical disease A newly released Practice Bulletin from the American College of Obstetricians and Gynecologists (ACOG) recognizes testing for the human papillomavirus (HPV) as "more sensitive than cervical cytology [the Pap test]" for detection of pre- cancerous cells (CIN 2/3) and cervical cancer. Digene is the developer of the only FDA-approved test for high-risk types of HPV, the cause of virtually all cases of cervical cancer. The Digene HPV Test, also marketed as the DNAwithPap(TM) Test, is approved for use in conjunction with a Pap test for women age 30 and older. ACOG's April 2005 Practice Bulletin on HPV summarizes epidemiology and transmission of the virus, discusses the incorporation of HPV screening into clinical practice, and provides guidance on how to use the test results to tailor patient management. ACOG represents more than 45,000 physicians who provide health care for women. The bulletin concludes, as a "Level A" recommendation "based on good and consistent scientific evidence," that HPV testing together with a Pap test is more sensitive in detecting cancer than a Pap test alone: * "Because HPV DNA testing is more sensitive than cervical cytology in detecting CIN 2 and CIN 3, women with negative concurrent test results can be reassured that their risk of unidentified CIN 2 and CIN 3 or cervical cancer is approximately 1 in 1,000." * "Studies using combined HPV testing with cervical cytology have reported [...]

4/15/2005 Michael Höckel and Nadja Dornhöfer Cancer Research 65, 2997-3002, April 15, 2005 After surgical resection with microscopically clear margins, solid malignant tumors recur locally in up to 50%. Although the effect of a local tumor recurrence on the overall survival may be low in common cancers such as carcinoma of the breast or prostate, the affected patients suffer from exacerbated fear and the burden of the secondary treatment. With some tumor entities such as carcinoma of the uterine cervix or carcinoma of the head and neck, a local recurrence indicates incurability in the majority of cases. The pathomechanisms of local tumor spread and relapse formation are still unclear and comparatively little research has been devoted to their elucidation. Through the analysis of clinical and molecular data, we propose the concept of two pathogenetically and prognostically different local relapse types (i) in situ recurrences that arise in the residual organ/organ system not involved in the surgery for the primary tumor and (ii) scar recurrences that develop at the site of previous tumor resection. Whereas field cancerization, the monoclonal or multiclonal displacement of normal epithelium by a genetically altered but microscopically undistinguishable homologue, may explain the origin of in situ recurrences, most scar recurrences are regarded as the result of the interaction of minimal residual microscopically occult cancer with the surgical wound environment inside a developmentally defined tissue or organ compartment. The therapeutic implications derived from these concepts and areas of future research aimed to reduce local relapses are discussed in [...]

4/13/2005 Warwick, England PhysOrg.com A new way of testing cells for cancer can both diagnose and determine the stage of cancer with just 50 tumour cells. Speaking at the Institute of Physics conference Physics 2005 in Warwick today, scientists will reveal a new test for cancer, more sensitive than any existing technique and capable of predicting for the first time whether a tumour has spread. Unlike existing techniques which rely on expert visual assessment or unreliable biochemical measurements, the "optical stretcher" tests the physical strength of each cell and can give a diagnosis using as few as 50 cells, allowing doctors to test for cancer where traditional biopsies are dangerous or even impossible. The ability to measure the progress of a cancer by examining only the primary tumour should reduce the number of unnecessary and traumatic mastectomies in women with breast cancer. Professor Josef Kдs and Dr Jochen Guck from the University of Leipzig have been developing the new procedure for several years and today described how the system is being tested, both to screen for oral cancers and in the "staging" of breast cancer tumours. Professor Kдs' technique for the first time uses a physical characteristic of each cell – its stretchiness or elasticity – instead of its biological make-up, to decide whether or not it's cancerous. Cancer cells tend to de-differentiate, losing the special characteristics of the organ where they started life. Because of this, they no longer need the rigid cytoskeleton which holds them in shape, making [...]

4/12/2005 Hehr, Classen et al. International Journal of Radiation Oncology as reported by cancerconsultants.com According to a recent article published in the International Journal of Radiation Oncology, Biology and Physics, alternating treatment with chemotherapy and radiation therapy appears to be an effective treatment approach to recurrent, inoperable head and neck cancer. 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. Following initial therapy, a large portion of patients experience a cancer recurrence. Unfortunately, these recurrences may be present in sites that are considered inoperable. Standard treatment for these patients consists of chemotherapy and/or radiation therapy. However, treatment is often associated with severe side effects which may reduce the quality of life of patients and may result in treatment delivery being delayed or doses reduced. A reduction in treatment doses or scheduling may ultimately compromise a patient’s long-term outcome. Researchers from Germany recently conducted a clinical trial to evaluate the effectiveness of alternating radiation therapy and chemotherapy in patients with recurrent head and neck cancer to improve tolerability of treatment and possibly allow for full doses of each treatment modality to be delivered on time. This trial included 27 patients with inoperable, recurrent head and neck cancer who had received prior radiation therapy. Patients received treatment with the chemotherapy agents Taxotere® (docetaxel) and [...]

4/12/2005 Charleston, SC Press Release PR Newswire Seventy Percent of Children Who Worry Their Parents' Tobacco Use Will Cause Serious Illness Want Them to Be Checked by a Doctor, New Survey Finds Legendary college football coach, Lou Holtz, whose wife Beth survived a battle with throat cancer, is urging at-risk Americans -- especially parents -- to get screened for cancer during Oral and Head and Neck Cancer Awareness Week (OHANCAW), April 11-17. OHANCAW is sponsored by the Yul Brynner Head and Neck Cancer Foundation (YBF), and is highlighted by a nationwide day of free screenings on Friday, April 15. According to the American Cancer Society, nearly 65,000 Americans will be diagnosed with cancers of the oral, head and neck region in 2005, and more than 12,500 will die. "Early detection of oral, head and neck cancers saves lives, so parents -- do right -- get screened for your kids," said Holtz, who is also the father of four. "As with every serious obstacle in life or athletics, you have to tackle problems early. We were very lucky that Beth recovered and is still enjoying daily life with our family." Recently retired from the University of South Carolina, Lou Holtz enjoyed an illustrious, 33-year career as head coach of six NCAA Division I-A football teams and earned three National Coach of the Year awards (1977, 1988 and 1998). Ranked eighth among college football coaches with the most wins, Holtz led his teams to 249 victories, a national championship (University of Notre [...]

4/11/2005 Okemos, MI Yahoo Finance (biz.yahoo.com) Each year, approximately 30,000 Americans are diagnosed with oral cancer, making it the sixth most common cancer in the U.S. With one life lost every hour to oral cancer, this deadly disease claims as many lives as melanoma and more than cervical cancer. To help in the fight against oral cancer, Delta Dental encourages everyone to ask their dentist about oral cancer screenings during Oral Cancer Awareness Week, April 11-17. Early detection saves lives. Like many cancers, the key to survival is early detection. Early detection of oral cancer can dramatically increase the five-year survival rate from a dismal 57 percent to 81 percent. It can even be prevented if detected at the precancerous stages. Dental professionals play a crucial role in early detection and are adopting a relatively new tool called a brush biopsy to catch oral cancer in its earliest stages or even as a precancerous lesion. Now, if dentists see unexplained red or white spots they feel need testing, they can perform the brush biopsy procedure right in the office. The brush biopsy is a quick and painless procedure that uses a small brush to collect cells from the spot, which are transferred to a slide and sent off to a high-tech laboratory for analysis. More than 160,000 brush biopsies have been performed by dentists in the U.S.; the test has already detected thousands of cases of precancers and early oral cancers. The affiliated Delta Dental Plans of Michigan, Ohio and [...]

4/10/2005 USDA/Agricultural Research Service ScienceNewsDaily (www.sciencedaily.com) Oranges rich in vitamin C offer another important yet lesser-known nutritional bonus: citrus limonoids. In laboratory tests with animals and with human cells, citrus limonoids have been shown to help fight cancers of the mouth, skin, lung, breast, stomach and colon. Agricultural Research Service scientists in northern California, led by chemist Gary D. Manners, are uncovering new details about these compounds. Manners and coinvestigators have reported their findings in studies published during the past several years. They've demonstrated, for example, that each time we bite into a citrus slice or drink a glass of orange juice, our bodies can readily access a limonoid called limonin. The team was the first to show limonin's "bioavailability." The body derives limonin from a parent compound--limonin glucoside--that's present in citrus and citrus juices in about the same amount as vitamin C, according to Manners. He's with the agency's Western Regional Research Center in Albany, Calif. In other early work, Manners and colleagues found that limonin may lower cholesterol. The researchers showed that, when exposed to limonin, human liver cells in petri dishes produced less apo B, a compound associated with higher cholesterol levels. High cholesterol levels are linked to increased risk of heart disease and other health problems. Now, Manners and coinvestigators are taking a closer look at limonin's cholesterol-lowering effects. They're doing that in a first-of-its-kind study with healthy volunteers. Manners is collaborating with researchers at Albany and at the ARS Western Human Nutrition Research Center in [...]

4/9/2005 Baltimore, MD Kristi Birch Johns Hopkins Magazine April 2005 In the war against cancer, molecular biomarkers hold out tantalizing promise. It doesn't look good, at least not judging from the body count: Cancer kills more than 1,500 Americans a day, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. That's one of every four deaths, or more than half a million people a year. And it gets worse. More than 30 years after President Nixon declared the War on Cancer in 1971, the American Cancer Society reported in January that despite some advances in treatment and prevention, cancer surpassed heart disease as the leading cause of death in the United States for people under the age of 85. Tell all that to leading Johns Hopkins cancer expert Bert Vogelstein, and he'll tell you something different. Over the last 25 years, Vogelstein's seminal discoveries have helped establish cancer as a genetic disease — and earned him status as the most highly cited scientist in the world. If we're losing a war, our general doesn't seem to know it. "When I went to medical school, cancer was a black box. Now that has completely changed," Vogelstein says. "There has been a revolution." The revolution is a whole new understanding of the molecular biology of cancer that should enable doctors to detect and remove cancers in their earliest stages, when the cancer is still curable. Specifically, they'll use a new generation of diagnostic tests that look for defective molecules. At the heart [...]

4/9/2005 Lexington, KY Jim Warren Lexington Herald-Leader Researchers at the University of Kentucky and Ohio State University are hoping that one of America's favorite fruits also might prove to be a preventive for oral cancer. They plan to test their theories in a trial at Ohio State this summer by using a purplish gel -- made from freeze-dried black raspberries -to treat selected patients who have precancerous lesions in their mouths. Patients will apply the gel topically. Once oral lesions become cancerous, disfiguring facial surgery may be the only treatment option. Tumors, however, often recur. Even when doctors surgically remove early, precancerous lesions, about half of them also recur with the potential of becoming life-threatening tumors. But if the raspberry gel can prevent, or at least slow, the transformation of lesions into tumors, the medication could become an important new tool against oral cancer. "Obviously we'd like to see these lesions completely disappear, but I think everyone would be happy just to see the whole process slowing down," said Russell Mumper, an associate professor of pharmaceutical science at the University of Kentucky who is working on the project. "Ninety-nine percent or more of these lesions will advance to cancer." Oral cancers, which cause up to 8,000 deaths each year, generally are associated with alcohol and tobacco use, particularly when the two are combined. People who use both tobacco and alcohol face a 38-fold increase in risk, according to Ohio State. Until recently, most victims were men in their 60s or [...]

4/7/2005 Rita Rubin USA Today (www.usatoday.com) A vaccine against the virus that causes cervical cancer and genital warts cut long-lasting infection by 90%, according to a pilot study out Wednesday. Study co-author Eliav Barr of Merck Research Laboratories says his company expects to apply to the Food and Drug Administration late this year for permission to sell the vaccine, which would be the first against cancer. Merck is now testing the vaccine in more than 25,000 women and children, up to one-third of them in the USA, in an expanded trial whose findings will be submitted to the FDA, Barr says. Up to 70% of sexually active women will become infected with human papillomavirus, or HPV, during their lifetime, Barr and his collaborators write in an article posted online by The Lancet Oncology, a British medical journal. More than 90% of cases clear up on their own. More than 35 types of HPV infect the genital tract, but four dominate, according to the article, the first about a vaccine against all four dominant types. Two types, 16 and 18, are linked to 70% of cases of cervical cancer, diagnosed in 470,000 women worldwide each year but rare in the U.S., thanks to widespread screening. These types are also linked to less common cancers: About 80% of cancers of the anus or vulva are associated with HPV 16, and about half of penile cancers are linked to either 16 or 18, says Luisa Villa, lead study author and biologist with the [...]