HPV – Page 30 – Oral Cancer News

Emergence of HPV 16 and sexually transmiitted oral cancer

Source: communities.washingtontimes.com Author: Dr. Ali by Ali Forghani The human papilloma virus (HPV) is the second leading cause of oral cancer. HPV is certainly not a newcomer to the disease world. It is one of the most common sexually transmitted disease on the planet. As of this writing, over 120 variations of the virus have been discovered, with different strands of HPV affecting different areas of the body. Many people contract HPV daily without realizing they have a virus, as it is very possible to carry a strand while displaying no noticeable symptoms. HPV 16 Virus HPV is a virus that is mainly focused on the outer surface of the body, the skin, as well as the mucus secreting areas. The most noticeable effect from certain strands of the virus is the appearance of warts on the skin, mainly concentrated on the arms, legs and hands. Condylomata acuminatum, also called genital warts, are the strands of this virus found most commonly on individuals and are generally believed to be caused by the HPV strands 6 and 11. These particular strands of HPV are very common and easily treatable. One of the prime reasons HPV is found so commonly in the world is the ease of transmission of the virus. HPV can be spread simply by contact of the skin, with certain strands branching out to be sexually transmitted. These particular strands are the strands that should be of the most concern today due to the discoveries being made [...]

Oral Cancer Foundation News Team - A2013-04-01T08:46:21-07:00April, 2013|Oral Cancer News|

HPV-positive African-Americans with throat cancer have better outcomes

Source: www.drbicuspid.com Author: DrBicuspid Staff African-Americans with throat cancer who are positive for the human papillomavirus (HPV) have better outcomes than African-Americans without HPV, according to a new study in Clinical Cancer Research (March 26, 2013). African-Americans who are HPV-negative also fared worse than Caucasians both with and without HPV present in oropharyngeal cancer, concluded lead author Maria Worsham, PhD, from Henry Ford Health System in Detroit, and colleagues. "This study adds to the mounting evidence of HPV as a racially-linked sexual behavior lifestyle risk factor impacting survival outcomes for both African-American and Caucasian patients with oropharyngeal cancer," Worsham said in a statement about the study. To compare survival outcomes in HPV-positive and HPV-negative African-Americans with oropharyngeal cancer, the researchers retrospectively evaluated 118 patients. Among the study group, 67 were HPV-negative and 51 were HPV-positive, and 42% of the patients were African-American. The study results indicate the following, according to the researchers: African-Americans are less likely to be HPV-positive. Those older than 50 are less likely to be HPV-positive. Those with late-stage oropharyngeal cancer are more likely to be unmarried and more likely to be HPV-positive. HPV-negative patients had 2.7 times the risk of death compared to HPV-positive patients. The HPV race groups differed, with significantly poorer survival for HPV-negative African-Americans versus HPV-positive African-Americans, HPV-positive Caucasians, and HPV-negative Caucasians. Overall, the study showed that HPV has a substantial affect on overall survival in African-Americans with oropharyngeal cancer, Worsham and colleagues concluded.

Oral Cancer Foundation News Team - A2013-04-01T08:35:41-07:00April, 2013|Oral Cancer News|

Noninvasive oral cancer test eases patient fears

Source: www.drbicuspid.com Author: Donna Domino, Features Editor A new, noninvasive cytology test for oral cancer, ClearPrep OC, is being offered free to dentists. The test, aimed at "watch and wait" lesions, is less expensive than biopsies and less frightening for patients, according to Resolution Biomedical, the company that is commercializing it. The chairside oral cancer test -- which can be ordered directly from the company -- is designed to be a diagnostic option for assessing lesions when a biopsy is not warranted or the patient fears getting a biopsy, according to Donald Williams, MD, chief medical officer of Resolution Biomedical. The test involves a cyto-brush sampling method that measures gross changes in the nuclear DNA content of oral epithelial cells, providing information about the precancerous or cancerous state of a lesion, the company explained. The samples are sent to medical testing labs, and the report is sent to the dentist within four to five days, the same time frame as biopsies. Dentists send the samples to the company, which prepares the slides and sends them to labs, which prepare a diagnostic report for the dentists. "It's a way to triage patients where something may be suspicious but the patient is balking about getting a biopsy," Dr. Williams told DrBicuspid.com. "It could be leukoplakia lesions or thrush instead of an indication of a neoplasm. It rules out biopsies without an invasive process." When dentists refer patients to periodontists to get biopsies of suspicious lesions, many patients don't follow through on the [...]

Oral Cancer Foundation News Team - A2013-03-23T10:22:46-07:00March, 2013|Oral Cancer News|

Spike in oral cancers puzzles experts

Source: www.turnto23.com Author: Victoria Colliver/San Francisco Chronicle Christine Schulz has never visited England, but she speaks with the clipped inflection of a vaguely British accent. It's not an affectation but, rather, the mystifying after-effect of an 18-hour surgery she endured in 2009 to remove about half her tongue due to a cancerous growth that had spread to her lymph nodes. Surgeons used skin from her wrist and upper leg to re-create the missing portions of her tongue. Through long term speech therapy, Schulz, 47, of Hollister, Calif., re-learned how to eat and talk with her reconstructed tongue. If she sounds as if she's from a different country, Schulz isn't complaining. "At the moment I woke up from surgery, I realized exactly what a huge deal it was," she said, describing how she had an incision in her throat to allow her to breathe and was prohibited to speak in her earliest days of healing. Oral cancers, which include those of the mouth and tongue, are most common in men over 60 with a long history of smoking or chewing tobacco, often combined with heavy drinking. But in recent years, a spike in the incidence of oral cancers is being attributed to human papilloma virus or HPV. But Schulz's cancer was neither HPV-- nor tobacco-related. That puts her in a camp of fewer than 7 percent of all oral cancers that have no identifiable cause, according to the Oral Cancer Foundation, an advocacy group based in Newport Beach, Calif. "Surprisingly, a [...]

Oral Cancer Foundation News Team - A2013-03-23T10:17:08-07:00March, 2013|Oral Cancer News|

Researchers document molecular tumor subtypes of head and neck cancer

Source: www.oncologynurseadvisor.com Author: Kathy Boltz, PhD Head and neck squamous cell carcinoma (HNSCC) is the seventh most common form of cancer in the United States. However, other than an association with the human papillomavirus (HPV), no validated molecular profile of the disease has been established. By analyzing data from DNA microarrays, a study has confirmed the presence of four molecular classes of the disease. Also, previous results have been extended by suggesting an underlying connection between the molecular classes and observed genomic events, some of which affect cancer genes. This study also demonstrated the clinical relevance of the classes and certain genomic events, paving the way for further studies and possible targeted therapies. "Cancer is a disease caused by alteration in the DNA and RNA molecules of tumors. A cancer results when broken molecules initiate a cascade of abnormal signals that ultimately results in abnormal growth and spread of tissues that should be under tight control within the body,” said Neil Hayes, MD, MPH, of the University of North Carolina Lineberger Comprehensive Cancer Center and of The Cancer Genome Atlas. "However, most common tumors, including head and neck cancer, have relatively little information in the public record as to how these signals coordinate to create different patterns of abnormalities. This study is among the largest ever published to document reproducible molecular tumor subtypes. Subtypes, such as those we describe, represent attractive models to understand and attack cancers for treatment and prognosis." The team analyzed a set of nearly 140 HNSCC [...]

Oral Cancer Foundation News Team - A2013-03-12T07:08:52-07:00March, 2013|Oral Cancer News|

Five genetic subgroups revealed in head and neck tumor analysis

Source: www.onclive.com Author: Ben Leach Oncologists who treat patients with head and neck cancer are aware that those whose disease has been caused by human papillomavirus (HPV) have significantly better outcomes than those whose disease is caused by other factors such as smoking. However, new research suggests that there may be five distinct subgroups in which specific genetic profiles may be utilized to guide treatment decisions in patients. “Currently, we treat all patients with head and neck cancer in essentially the same way,” said Ezra E. W. Cohen, MD, co-director of the Head and Neck Cancer Program at the University of Chicago Medical Center. “But we do know that the prognosis for patients who are HPV-positive is much better.” To determine whether patients’ genetic profiles differed, Cohen and his colleagues at the University of Chicago, led by researcher Tanguy Seiwert, MD, took approximately 130 tumor samples from patients with stage IV squamous cell carcinoma of the head and neck and performed gene expression (mRNA) analysis. The samples were gathered before patients received therapy, and all of the participants subsequently were treated with a 5-fluorouracil, hydroxyurea, and concurrent radiation (FHX)-based regimen. This way, the researchers could determine the outcome as a function of gene expression in the groups identified through the analysis, since patients received the same treatment across all the subgroups eventually identified. Cohen said that patients were enrolled regardless of whether they were HPV-positive or HPV-negative. Based on these findings, the University of Chicago team was able to classify [...]

Oral Cancer Foundation News Team - A2013-03-01T15:37:52-07:00March, 2013|Oral Cancer News|

Where Do the Millions of Cancer Research Dollars Go Every Year?

Posted: Thursday, Feb. 7, 2013, at 5:18 PM ET By: Quora Contributor Source: Slate.com This question originally appeared on Quora. Answer by David Chan, MD, Oncologist : I'll be the first to admit that despite all the billions put into cancer research, the end results of preventing cancer and treating advanced cancer have been disappointing. Unlike reducing deaths from heart attacks and stroke, progress in reducing deaths from cancer has been disappointingly slow. Sure, we've had our breakthrough drugs like Gleevec, the targeted drug for chronic myelogenous leukemia, and Herceptin for a certain type of breast cancer. But for a lot of other cancers, the treatments aren't giving us bang for the buck. Spending $100,000 to $200,000 a year to extend life for an additional three to six months may be very important to those individuals with cancer, but are a very poor return on investment for society. It's not sustainable, and that's why a lot of national health care programs won't pay for drugs like Avastin, Sutent, Yervoy, and Provenge. Dr. Margaret Cuomo (sister of New York Gov. Andrew Cuomo) recently wrote about her perspective about this. On the amount spent on cancer research: "More than 40 years after the war on cancer was declared, we have spent billions fighting the good fight. The National Cancer Institute has spent some $90 billion on research and treatment during that time. Some 260 nonprofit organizations in the United States have dedicated themselves to cancer — more than the number established [...]

Charlotte Parker2013-02-08T13:35:57-07:00February, 2013|Oral Cancer News|

Throat Cancer and HPV – the researcher

6 February, 2013 12:26PM AEDT By Carol Duncan (ABC Local) Source: abc.net.au Assoc Prof Karen Canfell is a researcher with the Lowy Cancer Research Centre at the University of NSW. HPV is her area of expertise. What does she want us to know about HPV and the vaccination program? CAROL DUNCAN: Karen, your area of expertise is human papilloma virus and I understand there's not just one but 100 or more? ASSOC PROF KAREN CANFELL: That's right, there's a large number of types HPV that have been implicated in cancer but it's really two of those types that are responsible for the vast majority of cancers, HPV 16 & 18 and those types are the ones that are included in the vaccine that is now available to us. CAROL DUNCAN: I guess this is the point of this series this week is that we now have another cancer which is, in essence, preventable. ASSOC PROF KAREN CANFELL: Yes, I think what we're seeing with HPV is an incredible success story in cancer prevention. This started with the vaccination of girls and women in Australia. Because HPV has a very important role in cervical cancer and, in fact HPV is responsible for virtually all cervical cancers, the types we just mentioned (types 16 & 18) are responsible for about 70% of those cancers. Five years ago, in 2007, we had the implementation of the National HPV Vaccination Program in girls and women in Australia and that's really had incredible effects [...]

Charlotte Parker2013-02-06T13:02:21-07:00February, 2013|Oral Cancer News|

Team approach improves oral cancer outcomes

Source: www.drbicuspid.com Author: Donna Domino, Features Editor Providence Cancer Center in Portland, OR, is one of a growing number of facilities that is working to improve care for patients with oral cancer and head and neck cancers through a multidisciplinary program that brings together a spectrum of treatment providers. To illustrate the challenges many oral cancer patients face, R. Bryan Bell, MD, DDS, medical director of the Oral, Head and Neck Cancer Program at Providence, described the extreme effects the illness and its treatment had on one of his patients. The woman had undergone surgery, chemotherapy, and radiation for her oral cavity cancer. "This was a beautiful 32-year-old woman who had lost all her teeth and couldn't chew," Dr. Bell told DrBicuspid.com. "She had aged about 40 years during treatment, and she just looked awful. But she had no means of affording needed dental rehabilitation, which would have cost about $60,000. People need to see what happens when you don't restore these patients." Dr. Bell used the woman's case to convince officials at Providence Health, which oversees the medical center, of the need for a multidisciplinary approach for these patients. The new cancer treatment center, which opened last month, is a unique collaboration between dental and medical oncology specialists. The center provides coordinated care for oral cancer patients who often need expensive and complex dental rehabilitation, regardless of their ability to pay, according to Dr. Bell. His team includes head and neck surgical oncologists, radiation oncologists, medical oncologists, otolaryngologists, neuro-otologists, [...]

Oral Cancer Foundation News Team - A2013-01-28T14:52:16-07:00January, 2013|Oral Cancer News|

HPV vaccine issue returns to legislature

Source: abcnews4.com Date: January 14, 2013 by Stacy Jacobson CHARLESTON, S.C. (WCIV) -- A local state representative will introduce a bill that would give middle school students better accessibility to information about the Human Papilloma Virus vaccine and to the vaccine itself. Gov. Nikki Haley vetoed the bill last year. But lawmakers wanted to try again. HPV can cause cervical cancer, as well as head and neck cancer, doctors said. Therese Speer is a mother of three, and grandmother of four. She knew what it was like to worry as a parent. "More information is always a benefit to parents. The more you know, the more informed decision you can make," Speer said. She said she supports a new bill called the Cervical Cancer Prevention Act. Rep. Bakari Sellers (D-90th District) proposed it. "The CDC just stated the cost of cervical cancer in South Carolina is upwards of $25 million. This is something we can head off," Sellers said. The bill would make information about the HPV vaccine more available to seventh grade students. The bill would also allow the South Carolina Department of Health and Environmental Control to offer the vaccine through school. "When that information is provided and parents have opportunity to speak to pediatrician about this vaccine, they overwhelmingly accept it," MUSC gynecologic oncologist Dr. Jennifer Young-Pierce said. Officials said the bill had no mandates, only options. "Too often, people get info from friend or Internet that doesn't have the most up-to-date information. This is requiring us to provide information [...]

Charlotte Parker2013-01-16T11:27:50-07:00January, 2013|Oral Cancer News|