HPV – Page 45 – Oral Cancer News

Nation backs HPV vaccination for boys

Source: www.dentalhealth.org.uk Author: press release An overwhelming majority of people in the UK have indicated that they want the vaccination for the Human Papilloma Virus (HPV) to include boys and not just girls. In a survey carried out by the British Dental Health Foundation as part of November’s Mouth Cancer Action Month, nine out of every ten people want to see the vaccination introduced for secondary school boys. A vaccination programme for girls aged 12 to 13 has been in place in the UK since 2008, handing out over four million doses of the jab, but now the UK’s leading oral health charity says it is time for a change. Chief Executive of the Foundation, Dr Nigel Carter, says cases of HPV in men are growing at an alarming rate and that more must be done to prevent any future outbreak. Dr Carter said: “HPV is such growing concern – much of the 42 percent rise in incidence of mouth cancer over the last 10 years is down to HPV and whilst vaccination of young girls will help, in order to be truly effective we will need to consider vaccination of boys as well. “It is about time we took action to prevent this hidden killer, which is beginning to affect more and more young people. Expert studies suggest HPV is set to become the leading cause of mouth cancer alongside smoking and alcohol, so let us be proactive and plan against this threat. “The government wisely acted on the [...]

Oral Cancer Foundation News Team - A2010-11-28T20:32:33-07:00November, 2010|Oral Cancer News|

Pertussis reaches epidemic proportions in California; New links identified between vaccine-preventable infections and cancer.

Source: Disabled World New data from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) show that adults remain largely unvaccinated against preventable infectious illnesses. At a news conference convened today by the National Foundation for Infectious Diseases (NFID), experts in public health, infectious disease, oncology and other medical specialties discussed the data and the health consequences for adults who skip vaccines. They collectively called on all adults and health care providers to improve vaccination rates. "For more than six decades, vaccines have protected us from infectious illnesses that have a wide range of consequences, from lost work days and inability to meet our daily obligations, to pain, discomfort, hospitalization, long-term disability and death," said Susan J. Rehm, M.D., NFID medical director. According to Dr. Rehm, by foregoing needed vaccines, adults not only leave themselves vulnerable to sickness, but they expose those around them to unnecessary risks, too. This problem is evident right now, as pertussis (whooping cough) continues to claim the lives of infants in California, while adults, who are frequently responsible for transmitting the disease to infants, fail to get the one-time pertussis booster vaccine. The impact of other vaccine-preventable infections may not be as immediately apparent, but they are no less important. Other vaccines for adults protect against viruses that cause several types of cancer, reactivation of the chickenpox virus that causes shingles later in life, and infection with bacteria that are the leading cause of community-acquired pneumonia. New survey results from NFID suggest that doctor/patient communication challenges may [...]

Oral Cancer Foundation News Team - A2010-11-23T10:17:29-07:00November, 2010|Oral Cancer News|

HPV vaccination of young women may protect men through herd immunity

Source: www.medscape.com Author: Laurie Barclay, MD High coverage of quadrivalent human papillomavirus (HPV) vaccination in young Australian women resulted in a lower frequency of genital warts, which might protect heterosexual men through herd immunity, according to the results of an analysis of national sentinel surveillance data published online November 9 in Lancet Infectious Diseases. "The natural history of cervical and HPV-associated diseases is slow," Mark H. Einstein, MD, MS, associate professor of obstetrics and gynecology and women's health, and director of clinical research for women's health and gynecologic oncology at Albert Einstein College of Medicine and Albert Einstein Cancer Center, Montefiore Medical Center, in New York City, told Medscape Medical News when asked for independent comment. "This is the first registry-based study that has already shown the declines after vaccinating a large population of vaccine-eligible adolescents and young adults. This prospectively shows what all the models have been predicting all along." The annual incidence of genital warts has been increasing for decades and is currently about 1% in young, sexually active people. Up to 90% of cases of genital warts are caused by HPV types 6 and 11, which are 2 of the 4 types targeted by the quadrivalent HPV vaccine used in Australia (Gardasil; CSL Biotherapies). "While it will probably be as effective as the quadrivalent HPV vaccine at preventing anogenital and other cancers, the bivalent HPV vaccine (Cervarix, GSK) used in the UK national program provides no protection against genital warts," lead author Basil Donovan, MD, head of [...]

Oral Cancer Foundation News Team - A2010-11-21T12:53:34-07:00November, 2010|Oral Cancer News|

FDA panel backs new use for Gardasil vaccine

Source: TherapeuticsDaily.com WASHINGTON -- A federal health panel says evidence supports expanding use of Merck's Gardasil vaccine to prevent anal cancer in young men and women. The panel of Food and Drug Administration advisers said a 4,000-patient study conducted by Merck & Co. Inc. shows the vaccine lowers the risk of anal cancer in men. They said these results can also be applied to women. Anal cancer is relatively rare, affecting about 5,000 people in the U.S. each year. Gardasil, Merck's top-selling vaccine, already is approved for prevention of cervical cancer and genital warts in girls and women aged 9 to 26. It's also approved for preventing genital warts in boys and men aged 9 to 26. The vaccine works by blocking four of the most common strains of human papilloma virus, or HPV.

Oral Cancer Foundation News Team - A2010-11-18T10:12:07-07:00November, 2010|Oral Cancer News|

HPV vaccine: why are so few women getting vaccinated?

Source: www.huffingtonpost.com Author: Leigh Vinocur, M.D. It is probably one of the most significant medical breakthroughs of this past decade. A vaccine to prevent cancer! We now better understand the link between cancers and viruses and how some viruses such as the human papillomavirus (HPV) can change cells and cause them to become cancerous. In essence we have identified a communicable form of cancer. HPV is often a sexually transmitted disease, which according to the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) is very common and it infects about 6 million people a year. It's estimated that 50 percent of sexually active men and women have been exposed at some point in their lives. There are hundreds of strains of HPV; about 30 to 40 of the strains are sexually transmitted. In the majority of the infections our body's immune system takes care of it without any treatment. However some of these sexually transmitted infections can cause cervical cancer. It's the high-risk strains the virus that remain in the body and cause a long-term infections. It then invades the cells of the cervix causing changes in the cellular structure and DNA to become pre-cancerous lesions as well as cause genital warts. If these infections aren't detected and treated they can go on to eventually become an invasive cervical cancer. The National Cancer Institute estimates that 12,200 women in the United States will be diagnosed with this type of cancer and nearly 4,200 women will die from it. Worldwide cervical [...]

Oral Cancer Foundation News Team - A2010-11-14T08:30:50-07:00November, 2010|Oral Cancer News|

Oropharyngeal cancer epidemic and human papillomavirus

Source: Foodconsumer Author: Torbjörn Ramqvist and Tina Dalianis Abstract A growing body of research shows that human papillomavirus (HPV) is a common and increasing cause of oropharyngeal squamous cell carcinoma (OSCC). Thus, the International Agency for Research against Cancer has acknowledged HPV as a risk factor for OSCC, in addition to smoking and alcohol consumption. Recently, in Finland, the United Kingdom, the Netherlands, the United States, and Sweden, incidence of OSCC has increased, and an increase in the proportion of HPV-positive tumors was noted. On the basis of these data and reports indicating that patients with HPV-positive cancer have their first sexual experience at a young age and have multiple partners, we postulate that increased incidence of OSCC in the United States and some countries in northern Europe is because of a new, primarily sexually transmitted HPV epidemic. We also suggest that individualized treatment modalities and preventive vaccination should be further explored. In many countries, vaccines against some human papillomavirus (HPV) types are now administered to girls and young women with the goal of protecting them against HPV-induced cervical cancer (1,2). The introduction of HPV vaccines has also drawn more attention to the fact that HPV is associated not only with cervical cancer and genital warts but also with other tumors, such as head neck and anogenital cancers (3). We focus on the role of HPV in the increased incidence of oropharyngeal squamous cell carcinoma (OSCC), the head and neck cancer in which HPV is most commonly found (4). Head and neck cancer [...]

Charlotte Parker2010-11-09T20:51:27-07:00November, 2010|Oral Cancer News|

Does framing human papillomavirus vaccine as preventing cancer in men increase vaccine acceptability?

Source: PubMed.gov BACKGROUND: Human papillomavirus (HPV) vaccine is now approved for use in males in the United States to prevent genital warts. We conducted an experiment to see whether framing HPV vaccination as also preventing cancer in men would increase men's vaccination willingness. METHODS: We conducted an online survey in January 2009 with a national sample of men ages 18 to 59 years who self-identified as gay/bisexual (n = 312) or heterosexual (n = 296). In the within-subjects experiment, men read four randomly ordered vignettes that described hypothetical vaccines that prevented either genital warts alone, or genital warts and either anal cancer, oral cancer, or penile cancer. We analyzed data using repeated measures ANOVA and tested whether perceived severity or perceived likelihood mediated the effect of disease outcome framing on men's HPV vaccination willingness. RESULTS: Although only 42% of men were willing to receive HPV vaccine when it was framed as preventing genital warts alone, 60% were willing to get it when it was framed as preventing cancer in addition to genital warts (P < 0.001). The effect of outcome framing was the same for heterosexual and gay/bisexual men and for the three cancer types examined. Perceived severity of disease partially mediated the association between disease outcome and HPV vaccination willingness. CONCLUSIONS: Men may be more accepting of HPV vaccine when it is framed as preventing cancer, regardless which of the three most common HPV-related cancers in men is described. IMPACT: Study findings may be useful in developing health communication messages that maximize HPV vaccine [...]

Oral Cancer Foundation News Team - A2010-11-08T13:52:28-07:00November, 2010|Oral Cancer News|

Cancers attributable to human papillomavirus infection.

Source: PubMed.gov Although the human papillomavirus (HPV) vaccine was introduced primarily as a cervical cancer prevention vaccine, HPV has a causal role in several types of cancer. This article reviews the epidemiological evidence for the role of HPV in human cancer, and describes Australian trends in these cancers. HPV is a necessary cause of cervical cancer. The currently vaccine-preventable subtypes of HPV 16 and 18 are responsible for ~70% of cervical cancer. The introduction of an organised Pap smear program in Australia led to a steep decline in incidence over the past decades. HPV can be detected in ~40% and 70% of vulval and vaginal cancers respectively. Rates of these cancers have been stable over the past 20 years. The prevalence of HPV in penile cancer is ~50% and incidence has not recently changed. For anal cancer, ~85% of cases are HPV positive, and incidence has increased significantly in both men and women over the past 20 years. In the oral cavity, ~35% of oropharyngeal cancers and ~25% of other oral cavity cancers are HPV positive. The incidence of HPV-related oral cavity and oropharyngeal cancers is increasing, whereas incidence at HPV-unrelated sites is decreasing. Overall, 1154 HPV-related cancer cases were potentially preventable by vaccination. If HPV-related cancers at non-cervical sites are prevented by vaccination, then a similar number of cancer cases will be prevented as in the cervix. However, almost one-quarter of the potentially preventable cancer cases are in men, who are not included in the current national immunisation program.

Oral Cancer Foundation News Team - A2010-11-08T13:36:52-07:00November, 2010|Oral Cancer News|

Histopathologic findings of HPV and p16 positive HNSCC

Source: PubMed.gov OBJECTIVE: Human papilloma virus (HPV) and p16INKa (p16) positivity in head and neck squamous cell carcinomas (HNSCCs) is currently thought to be an encouraging prognostic indicator. However, the histopathologic changes responsible for this behavior are poorly understood. It is our objective to elucidate these histopathologic characteristics to help define the clinical utility of these markers. DESIGN: Retrospective cohort study. METHODS: 71 HNSCC tumors between July 1, 2008 and August 30, 2009 were examined for HPV, p16, and epidermal growth factor receptor (EGFR). Specified pathologic features were examined: perivascular invasion (PVI), perineural invasion (PNI), grade of squamous differentiation, basaloid classification. RESULTS: HPV and p16 had no direct impact on perineural or perivascular invasion. However, HPV and p16 were strongly predictive of poorly differentiated tumors, as well as basaloid squamous cell carcinoma (SCCA) (P < .001). Additionally, upon multivariate analysis, HPV(+) and p16(+) tumors had an increased risk of nodal metastasis (HPV: odds ratio [OR] = 23.9 (2.2, 265.1) p = .01; p16: OR = 6.5 (1.4, 31.2) p = .02; PVI: OR = 6.0 (1.6, 22.8) p < .01). The area under the curve (AUC) of receiver operating characteristic (ROC) curves demonstrated improved predictive value for lymph node metastasis above standard H&E histopathologic features (76.7%) for both HPV (83.2%) and p16 (81.3%) individually. CONCLUSIONS: HPV(+) and p16(+) are highly predictive for poorly differentiated tumors and basaloid SCCA. Additionally, HPV and p16 positivity demonstrate superior predictive value for lymph node metastasis above standard H&E histopathologic features. Although exact recommendations should be tempered by considerations of [...]

Oral Cancer Foundation News Team - A2010-11-08T13:31:34-07:00November, 2010|Oral Cancer News|

Would the effect of HPV vaccination on non-cervical HPV-positive cancers make the difference for its cost-effectiveness?

Source: PubMed.gov Besides cervical cancer, the human papillomavirus (HPV) is found in other cancers and may be preventable with HPV vaccination. However, these other cancers are often not accounted for in cost-effectiveness analyses of HPV vaccination. This study estimates the potential maximum effect on the cost-effectiveness ratio (CER) of HPV vaccination in preventing non-cervical HPV-positive cancers. For the Dutch situation, a mathematical equation was used to estimate the maximum impact if all cancer cases of the penis, vulva/vagina, anus, oral cavity and oro-pharynx with HPV16/18 are prevented, in terms of number of life years gained, savings and improvement in the CER of the vaccination. For other countries and for future developments, we show how the impact on the CER varies depending on the incidence of cervical/non-cervical HPV 16/18-positive cancers, vaccine costs and clinical costs. If in the Netherlands all HPV 16/18-positive cancers are prevented by vaccination in women only, compared to if only HPV 16/18-positive cervical cancer is prevented, the life years gained increase with 14%, the savings increase with 18%, and the CER decreases with 13%. If vaccination prevents HPV-positive cancers in both men and women, these figures increase to 25%, 26% and 21%, respectively. In conclusion, if HPV vaccination fully prevents all non-cervical HPV-positive cancers, this would substantially increase its cost-effectiveness. The impact of the vaccination varies depending on the incidence of cervical/non-cervical HPV16/18-positive cancers, the vaccine costs and clinical costs. Observed combinations of these parameters in different countries show a decrease in the CER between 10% and [...]

Oral Cancer Foundation News Team - A2010-11-08T13:20:40-07:00November, 2010|Oral Cancer News|