Oral Cancer News – Page 58 – The Oral Cancer Foundation News Archive

Researchers Uncover Major Clue In Predicting Response To Immunotherapy

Researchers at Memorial Sloan Kettering Cancer Center in New York have discovered that cancer cells with high numbers of faults in their DNA are more likely to respond to immune checkpoint inhibitors (ICI), a major class of immunotherapy drugs, which includes Keytruda. The study, published today in Nature Genetics adds important pieces to the puzzle as to why some cancer patients respond to immunotherapy whereas others do not. The researchers measured 'tumor mutation burden (TMB)', essentially counting how many DNA faults a tumor contains by looking for errors in the DNA sequence. "People assume that TMB is important in predicting response to immunotherapy in all cancers, but up until now, all we've had is data from small studies and clinical trials on mostly lung cancers and melanoma," said Luc Morris, MD, surgical oncologist at Memorial Sloan Kettering Cancer Center and one of the lead authors of the paper. The researchers studied the DNA of 1,662 patients with advanced cancer (classified as stage IV or metastatic disease) treated with one or more of several FDA-approved ICI drugs and DNA from 5,371 patients with advanced cancer who had not had ICI. They used a tool called MSK-IMPACT, which looks at just 3% of the coding-regions in DNA, but is correlated to the number of mutations in the genome. "Is TMB associated with likelihood that immunotherapy has benefit? Is this true in all cancers? We wanted to find out whether TMB had broad applicability," said Morris. The researchers found that if they took [...]

Charlotte Parker2019-01-16T11:03:13-07:00January, 2019|Oral Cancer News|

New app gives throat cancer patients their voice back

Source: www.straitstimes.com Author: staff Throat cancer patient Vlastimil Gular can say what he wants in his own voice thanks to technology that uses past recordings of his voice to create synthetic speech that can be played on his mobile phone via an app. Photo: AFP Vlastimil Gular's life took an unwelcome turn a year ago: minor surgery on his vocal cords revealed throat cancer, which led to the loss of his larynx and with it, his voice. But the 51-year-old father of four is still chatting away using his own voice rather than the tinny timbre of a robot, thanks to an innovative app developed by two Czech universities. "I find this very useful," Mr Gular told AFP, using the app to type in what he wanted to say, in his own voice, via a mobile phone. "I'm not very good at using the voice prosthesis," he added, pointing at the hole the size of a large coin in his throat. This small silicon device implanted in the throat allows people to speak by pressing the hole with their fingers to regulate airflow through the prosthesis and so create sound. But Mr Gular prefers the new hi-tech voice app. It was developed for patients set to lose their voice due to a laryngectomy, or removal of the larynx, a typical procedure for advanced stages of throat cancer. The joint project of the University of West Bohemia in Pilsen, Prague's Charles University and two private companies - CertiCon and [...]

Oral Cancer Foundation News Team - A2019-01-14T13:32:07-07:00January, 2019|Oral Cancer News|

Living well with a feeding tube

Source: health.usnews.com Author: Lisa Esposito, Staff Writer Nearyly 450,000 Americans with swallowing or digestive problems manage tube feedings – also called home enteral nutrition – on their own. Some have temporary feeding tubes, while others leave the hospital with feeding tubes surgically placed for the foreseeable future. Veteran users or "tubies" accept long-term feeding tubes as the best or only way to nourish themselves. Many resume school, work and social lives that were once threatened by severe weight loss and malnutrition. For them, getting a feeding tube means getting their active lives back. Feeding Tube Benefits Feeding tubes can prevent weight loss, boost energy and bolster your immune system. They also offer important health benefits for people coping with the following health issues: Tube feeding for chronic swallowing challenges. For people with chronic health conditions that can cause swallowing difficulties, it helps keep them well-nourished. Neurologic conditions such as Parkinson's disease, stroke or amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS or Lou Gehrig's disease) can impair nerves, affecting swallowing ability. Tube feeding for oral and throat cancer. Inability to swallow food because of cancer of the mouth or throat is a major contributor to people receiving one, says Lisa Epp, a registered dietitian nutritionist with Mayo Clinic in Rochester, Minnesota. Tube feeding for nutrition during recovery. A patient who has a short-term eating problem likely to eventually resolve, such as someone recovering from a surgery, brain injury or stroke, may benefit from having one. Tube feeding for gastric problems. Gastric problems in which [...]

Oral Cancer Foundation News Team - A2019-01-06T09:28:05-07:00January, 2019|Oral Cancer News|

CDC: Top HPV-Associated Cancer Is Now Oropharyngeal

Date: 08/23/18 Source: medscape.com Author: Nick Mulcahy Oropharyngeal squamous cell carcinoma (SCC) is now the most common HPV-associated cancer in the United States, according to a new report from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) that covers the years 1999 to 2015. During that period, cervical cancer dropped from being the top HPV-associated cancer and oropharyngeal SCC took its place. The transition happened because cervical carcinoma incidence rates decreased 1.6% per year, and oropharyngeal SCC incidence rates increased 2.7% per year among men and 0.8% per year among women. In 2015, there were a total of 11,788 cervical cancers compared with 18,917 oropharyngeal SCCs. The decline in cervical cancer is a "continued trend since the 1950s as a result of cancer screening," write the report authors, led by Elizabeth Van Dyne, MD, MPH, an epidemic intelligence service officer at the CDC. The uptick in oropharyngeal SCC could be due in part to "changing sexual behaviors," including unprotected oral sex, especially among white men, who report having the highest number of sexual partners and performing oral sex at a younger age compared with other racial/ethnic groups, the authors say. Oropharyngeal SCCs include those at the base of tongue, pharyngeal tonsils, anterior and posterior tonsillar pillars, glossotonsillar sulci, anterior surface of soft palate and uvula, and lateral and posterior pharyngeal walls. The new report was published August 24 in the Morbidity and Mortality Weekly Report. The study authors defined HPV-associated cancer as "an invasive malignancy in which HPV DNA was frequently [...]

Charlotte Parker2019-01-02T13:54:33-07:00January, 2019|Oral Cancer News|

Five Things To Look Out For In Cancer Research In 2019

Date: 12/28/18 Source: Forbes.com Author: Victoria Forster 2018 was a remarkable year for cancer research, with great strides made in diagnosing and treating various types of cancer as well as important breakthroughs looking at the health of cancer survivors. What can we expect to see from cancer research in 2019? As a cancer research scientist, here are the top five topics that I'll be looking out for. 1. Immunotherapy. Who will respond, who won't respond and why? Immunotherapy is now seemingly everywhere, with several therapies approved for various cancer types, including CAR T-cells and immune checkpoint inhibitors and several more in development such as tumor infiltrating lymphocyte (TIL) therapy. TILs successfully cleared all tumors from a woman with metastatic breast cancer, in a research breakthrough which was one of the most reported in 2018. Over 2,500 trials are now registered worldwide, but as the use of immunotherapy grows, there are still major questions to be answered. One particularly important to the use of immune-checkpoint blocking drugs such as those which target PD-1 or CTLA-4 is 'why do some patients respond whereas others do not?' Several research teams worldwide are currently grappling with this question, which is unlikely to have a single, clear answer, but I expect to see much more research published on this in 2019, which will hopefully start to benefit patients by identifying who will and won't respond to these expensive drugs. 2. Liquid biopsy tests. More clarity on precisely what they do and more evidence that they [...]

Charlotte Parker2019-01-02T13:07:21-07:00January, 2019|Oral Cancer News|

Hospitals required to post all prices online beginning January 1

Date: 12/26/18 Source: KATV Author: Associated Press WASHINGTON (AP) — Medicare will require hospitals to post their standard prices online and make electronic medical records more readily available to patients, officials said Tuesday. The program is also starting a comprehensive review of how it will pay for costly new forms of immunotherapy to battle cancer. Seema Verma, head of the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services, said the new requirement for online prices reflects the Trump administration’s ongoing efforts to encourage patients to become better-educated decision makers in their own care. “We are just beginning on price transparency,” said Verma. “We know that hospitals have this information and we’re asking them to post what they have online.” Hospitals are required to disclose prices publicly, but the latest change would put that information online in machine-readable format that can be easily processed by computers. It may still prove to be confusing to consumers, since standard rates are like list prices and don’t reflect what insurers and government programs pay. Patients concerned about their potential out-of-pocket costs from a hospitalization would still be advised to consult with their insurer. Most insurance plans nowadays have an annual limit on how much patients must pay in copays and deductibles — although traditional Medicare does not. Likewise, many health care providers already make computerized records available to patients, but starting in 2021 Medicare would base part of a hospital’s payments on how good a job they do. Using electronic medical records remains a cumbersome task, and [...]

Charlotte Parker2019-01-02T12:52:16-07:00January, 2019|Oral Cancer News|

The US surgeon general just issued a rare advisory about e-cigs like the Juul — here’s why vaping is so dangerous

In a rare national advisory, the top US public health official warned Americans of the dangers of e-cigarettes like the Juul, a popular device that lets users inhale nicotine vapor without burning tobacco. US Surgeon General Jerome Adams said in the advisory on Tuesday that e-cigs like the Juul are a particular danger to kids and teens and called for fresh measures to halt their rising popularity. "We need to protect our kids from all tobacco products, including all shapes and sizes of e-cigarettes," Adams said in a statement, adding, "We must take action now to protect the health of our nation's young people." The advisory singles out Juul multiple times, saying the sleek devices are popular among teens because they're easy to conceal and don't emit much odor. It tells parents, health professionals, and teachers to be on the lookout for all forms of nicotine-delivery devices, including e-cigs. Adams' announcement comes on the heels of warnings from several other federal agencies about a rise in e-cig use, including from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention and the Food and Drug Administration. In November, after new CDC data pointed to a 78% increase in e-cig use among high-school students, FDA Commissioner Scott Gottliebannounced moves to further restrict sales of e-cigarettes to prevent them from getting into the hands of young people. That included a crackdown on flavored offerings, which researchers say appeal strongly to young people. Several days before the FDA's announcement, Juul Labs, the Silicon Valley startup behind the most popular e-cig in the US, temporarily halted sales of [...]

Brian Hill2018-12-19T16:41:28-07:00December, 2018|Oral Cancer News|

HPV discovery raises hope for new cervical cancer treatments

Source: www.eurekalert.org Author: press release - University of Virginia Health Syste Researchers at the University of Virginia School of Medicine have made a discovery about human papillomavirus (HPV) that could lead to new treatments for cervical cancer and other cancers caused by the virus. HPV is responsible for nearly all cases of cervical cancer and 95 percent of anal cancers. It is the most common sexually transmitted disease, infecting more than 79 million Americans. Most have no idea that are infected or that they could be spreading it. "Human papillomavirus causes a lot of cancers. Literally thousands upon thousands of people get cervical cancer and die from it all over the world. Cancers of the mouth and anal cancers are also caused by human papillomaviruses," said UVA researcher Anindya Dutta, PhD, of the UVA Cancer Center. "Now there's a vaccine for HPV, so we're hopeful the incidences will decrease. But that vaccine is not available all around the world, and because of religious sensitivity, not everybody is taking it. The vaccine is expensive, so I think the human papillomavirus cancers are here to stay. They're not going to disappear. So we need new therapies." HPV and Cancer HPV has been a stubborn foe for scientists, even though researchers have a solid grasp of how it causes cancer: by producing proteins that shut down healthy cells' natural ability to prevent tumors. Blocking one of those proteins, called oncoprotein E6, seemed like an obvious solution, but decades of attempts to do so [...]

Oral Cancer Foundation News Team - A2018-12-19T14:14:58-07:00December, 2018|Oral Cancer News|

Tobacco 21 — its time has come

Source: vtdigger.org Author: Nevin Zablotsky, DMD As we approach the holiday season I am reminded of the gifts of love we share with our families, as well as the New Year’s resolutions we make and try to keep after Jan. 1 history. I am a periodontist having practiced in Burlington and South Burlington for the past 40 years. In that time I have treated patients that have been severely compromised by tobacco. Some have lost teeth from advanced periodontal disease and some have lost parts of their tongue and jaw due to oral cancer, leaving them significantly compromised functionally as well as well as emotionally. I have had to advise teenagers and their families that their tobacco chewing habit had caused significant enough changes in their mouth to warrant a biopsy of the involved area. This caused great stress to them as they waited a week to find out the results. Some may think that it takes many years for tobacco use to compromise one’s health, but teenagers can die a horrible death from tobacco use if they are one of the unlucky ones who is genetically predisposed to oral cancer. Over the years, I have traveled throughout Vermont teaching about tobacco and nicotine addiction to elementary, junior and senior high school students. I feel that I have a good sense of what kids are thinking about these subjects. The elementary school students seem to understand that cigarettes are bad for them. When one talks to the middle school kids, [...]

Oral Cancer Foundation News Team - A2018-12-11T20:44:16-07:00December, 2018|Oral Cancer News|

Oral cancer prognostic signature identified

Source: www.eurekalert.org Author: press release Researchers in Brazil have identified a correlation between oral cancer progression and the abundance of certain proteins present in tumor tissue and saliva. The discovery offers a parameter for predicting progression of the disease - whether cervical lymph node metastasis is present, for example - and points to a strategy for overcoming the limitations of clinical and imaging exams. It could also help guide the choice of an ideal treatment for each patient. The study began in the discovery phase with a proteomic analysis of tissue from different tumor areas using 120 microdissected samples. In the verification phase, prognostic signatures were confirmed in approximately 800 tissue samples by immunohistochemistry and in 120 samples by targeted proteomics. The study was supported by São Paulo Research Foundation - FAPESP and conducted at the National Energy and Materials Research Center (CNPEM) in partnership with the São Paulo State Cancer Institute (ICESP), the University of Campinas's Piracicaba Dental School (FOP-UNICAMP), the Institute of Computing from the same university, the University of São Paulo's Mathematics and Computer Science Institute (ICMC) in São Carlos, and the Dental School of the West Paraná University (UNIOESTE), in addition to other institutions in Brazil and abroad. "The data led to robust results that are highly promising as guides to defining the severity of the disease. We suggested potential markers of the disease in the first phase of the study and verified these markers in the second phase, enhancing the reliability of the findings and [...]

Oral Cancer Foundation News Team - A2018-12-06T12:27:03-07:00December, 2018|Oral Cancer News|