human papilloma virus – Page 2

Patients with HPV-positive oropharynx cancer should receive chemoradiation

Source: medicalxpress.com Author: provided by European Society for Medical Oncology Patients with human papilloma virus (HPV)-positive throat cancer should receive chemoradiotherapy rather than cetuximab with radiotherapy, according to late-breaking research reported at the ESMO 2018 Congress in Munich. "Many patients have been receiving cetuximab with radiotherapy on the assumption that it was as effective as chemotherapy with radiotherapy and caused less side effects but there has been no head-to-head comparison of the two treatments," said study author Prof Hisham Mehanna, Chair, Head and Neck Surgery, Institute of Cancer and Genomic Sciences, University of Birmingham, UK. Throat cancer is rapidly becoming more common in Western countries. For example in the UK, incidence was unchanged in 1970 to 1995, then doubled in 1996 to 2006, and doubled again in 2006 to 2010.The rise has been attributed to HPV, a sexually transmitted infection. Most throat cancer was previously caused by smoking and alcohol and affected 65-70 year-old working class men. Today HPV is the main cause and patients are around 55, middle class, working, and have young children. HPV-positive throat cancer responds well to a combination of cisplatin chemotherapy and radiotherapy, and patients can survive for 30-40 years, but the treatment causes lifelong side effects including dry mouth, difficulty swallowing, and loss of taste. Patients deemed unable to tolerate chemotherapy, for example because of poor kidney function or older age, receive cetuximab, an epidermal growth factor receptor (EGFR) inhibitor, and radiotherapy. This study compared side effects and survival with the two treatments in [...]

Oral Cancer Foundation News Team - A2018-10-23T12:14:09-07:00October, 2018|Oral Cancer News|

FDA approves expanded use of Gardasil 9 to include individuals 27 through 45 years old

The U.S. Food and Drug Administration today approved a supplemental application for Gardasil 9 (Human Papillomavirus (HPV) 9-valent Vaccine, Recombinant) expanding the approved use of the vaccine to include women and men aged 27 through 45 years. Gardasil 9 prevents certain cancers and diseases caused by the nine HPV types covered by the vaccine. “Today’s approval represents an important opportunity to help prevent HPV-related diseases and cancers in a broader age range,” said Peter Marks, M.D., Ph.D., director of the FDA’s Center for Biologics Evaluation and Research. ”The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention has stated that HPV vaccination prior to becoming infected with the HPV types covered by the vaccine has the potential to prevent more than 90 percent of these cancers, or 31,200 cases every year, from ever developing.” According to the CDC, every year about 14 million Americans become infected with HPV; about 12,000 women are diagnosed with and about 4,000 women die from cervical cancer caused by certain HPV viruses. Additionally, HPV viruses are associated with several other forms of cancer affecting men and women. Gardasil, a vaccine approved by the FDA in 2006 to prevent certain cancers and diseases caused by four HPV types, is no longer distributed in the U.S. In 2014, the FDA approved Gardasil 9, which covers the same four HPV types as Gardasil, as well as an additional five HPV types. Gardasil 9 was approved for use in males and females aged 9 through 26 years. The effectiveness of Gardasil is [...]

Charlotte Parker2018-10-08T09:23:24-07:00October, 2018|Oral Cancer News|

Doctors push HPV vaccine, Merck asks FDA to expand Gardasil 9 age range

Source: www.drugwatch.com Author: Michelle Llamas, Emily Miller (editor) Doctors, national cancer organizations and 70 nationally recognized cancer centers banded together in June to increase HPV vaccinations and improve cervical cancer screening. But they’re not the only ones pushing for more vaccinations. HPV vaccine maker Merck requested the FDA expand the recommended age range for Gardasil 9. Gardasil 9 is currently the only HPV vaccination available in the U.S. Nearly 80 million Americans get HPV infections each year. Of those people, about 32,500 get HPV-related cancers, according to the CDC. Studies show the HPV vaccine is effective in protecting against the human papilloma virus. The virus can lead to several cancers. These include cervical, vaginal, vulvar, anal, penile or throat cancers. HPV vaccination rates in the U.S. remain low. Doctors and cancer centers say low vaccination rates are a public health threat. “HPV vaccination is cancer prevention,” Dr. Deanna Kepka, assistant professor in the University of Utah’s College of Nursing, said in a statement. “It is our best defense in stopping HPV infection in our youth and preventing HPV-related cancers in our communities.” Right now, the vaccination rate among teens ages 13 to 17 is 60 percent. Doctors are pushing for an 80 percent HPV vaccination rate in pre-teen boys and girls. “[Vaccination] combined with continued screening and treatment for cervical pre-cancers … could see the elimination of cervical cancer in the U.S. within 40 years,” Dr. Richard Wender, chief cancer control officer for the American Cancer Society, said in a [...]

Oral Cancer Foundation News Team - A2018-06-23T08:31:54-07:00June, 2018|Oral Cancer News|

Be your own advocate

Source: www.wvnews.com Author: Mary McKinley The importance of dental care goes beyond cavities — it’s also about preventing cancer. The week of April 8 is National Oral, Head and Neck Cancer Awareness Week, and your dentist or dental hygienist may be your first line of defense against oral cancer. More than 50,000 Americans are expected to be diagnosed with oral or oropharyngeal cancer (cancer of the back of the throat, including the base of the tongue and the tonsils) in 2018, and 350 will be diagnosed in West Virginia alone. Routine dental exams can detect cancer or pre-cancers during the early stages. If you notice a persistent sore or pain, swelling or changes in your mouth, or red or white patches on the gums, tongue, tonsils or lining of the mouth, visit a doctor or dentist so they can examine your mouth more closely. Some people diagnosed with oral cancer have no risk factors, so it’s important for everyone to keep those dental appointments. If you use tobacco, drink alcohol in excess, or have the human papillomavirus (HPV), you have an increased risk for oral cancer. Oral cancer is more common in older adults, particularly men, but oropharyngeal cancer is on the rise in middle-aged, nonsmoking white men between the ages of 35 and 55. The majority of these types of cancer cases are caused by HPV. Take charge of your health and reduce your risk of oral cancer. If you smoke or chew tobacco, quit now (it’s never too [...]

Oral Cancer Foundation News Team - A2018-04-09T06:23:14-07:00April, 2018|Oral Cancer News|

Accurately identifying aggressive head and neck cancers

Source: www.eurekalert.org Author: press release The Case Western Reserve-led research team will analyze computerized images of tissue samples for patterns which could become "biomarkers," or predictors, for determining relative risk for recurrence in one particularly common type of head and neck cancers. Those tumors, known as oropharyngeal cancers, occur primarily at the base of the tongue and in the tonsils. Currently, however, oncologists tend to treat all of these tumors with the same aggressive level of therapy. This is the case even though many of the oropharyngeal tumors which are caused by the human papilloma virus (HPV) tend to have favorable outcome-regardless of treatment-while another subset of the tumors progress and metastasize, or spread. "Right now, it's a one-size-fits-all therapy for all of these patients with HPV head and neck cancers," said Anant Madabhushi, MD, the F. Alex Nason Professor II of Biomedical Engineering, founding director of the CCIPD at the Case School of Engineering and primary investigator in the new research. "There are currently very few validated biomarkers and approaches that are accurate enough to be able to identify which of these cancers are more aggressive or which ones are less aggressive," he said. "That has limited the ability of clinicians to even hold clinical trials to find out if they can de-escalate therapy for some of these patients-or who needs more aggressive therapy." The National Cancer Institute (NCI) recently awarded a $3.15 million, five-year academic-industry partnership grant to Madabhushi and his team to pursue the research and build [...]

Oral Cancer Foundation News Team - A2018-03-27T13:01:32-07:00March, 2018|Oral Cancer News|

Biofilms in tonsil crypts may explain HPV-related head and neck cancers

Source: www.genengnews.com Author: staff Human papilloma virus (HPV) encased in biofilms inside tonsil crypts (pictured) may explain why the roughly 5% of HPV-infected people who develop cancer of the mouth or throat are not protected by their immune systems. Tonsil crypts with HPV are shown in green; epithelial and biofilm layers are shown in red. [Katherine Rieth. M.D.] How can human papilloma virus (HPV) be prevalent in otherwise healthy people not known to carry it? A just-published study concludes that the virus may be lurking in small pockets on the surface of their tonsils. Researchers from University of Rochester Medical Center (URMC) found HPV encased in biofilms inside tonsil crypts, where HPV-related head and neck cancers often originate. HPV is shed from the tonsil during an active infection and gets trapped in the biofilm, where it may be protected from immune attack. In the crypts, the virus likely lays in wait for an opportunity to reinstate infection or invade the tonsil tissue to develop cancer. “The virus gains access to the basal layer of stratified squamous epithelium through structural breaks in the stratified epithelial superstructure,” the investigators reported in the study. “Tonsillar crypt reticulated epithelium itself has been shown to contain numerous small blood vessels and has a discontinuous basement membrane, which may facilitate this infection and reinfection process.” The URMC researchers said their finding could help prevent oropharyngeal cancers that form on the tonsils and tongue—and may explain why the roughly 5% of HPV-infected people who develop cancer [...]

Oral Cancer Foundation News Team - A2018-02-01T09:46:22-07:00February, 2018|Oral Cancer News|

7 million American men carry cancer-causing HPV virus

Source: www.nytimes.com Author: Nicholas Bakalar The incidence of mouth and throat cancers caused by the human papilloma virus in men has now surpassed the incidence of HPV-related cervical cancers in women, researchers report. The study, in the Annals of Internal Medicine, found that 11 million men and 3.2 million women in the United States had oral HPV infections. Among them, 7 million men and 1.4 million women had strains that can cause cancers of the throat, tongue and other areas of the head and neck. The risk of infection was higher for smokers, for people who have had multiple sex partners, and for men who have sex with men. Frequent oral sex also increased the risk. The rate was higher among men who also had genital HPV. (Almost half of men aged 18 to 60 have a genital HPV infection, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.) Neither age nor income made a difference in high-risk oral infection rates, but rates among non-Hispanic blacks were higher than other races and ethnicities. HPV vaccination is recommended starting at age 11 or 12 and is effective, said the senior author, Ashish A. Deshmukh, an assistant professor at the University of Florida, and “it’s crucial that parents vaccinate boys as well as girls.” The lead author, Kalyani Sonawane, also at the University of Florida, said that behavioral change is important, too, particularly smoking cessation. “The difference in oral HPV infection between smokers and nonsmokers is staggering,” she said.

Oral Cancer Foundation News Team - A2017-10-17T07:31:08-07:00October, 2017|Oral Cancer News|

Trans oral robotic surgery saves public Australian hospital patients from disfiguring procedure

Source: www.smh.com.au Author: Kate Aubusson The cancerous tumour growing at the back of Brian Hodge's tongue was about as hard-to-reach as cancers get. The 73-year-old was told he'd need radical, invasive surgery to remove the 50¢-sized tumour. His surgeon would make an incision almost from ear-to-ear and split his jaw in two for the 10-12 hour surgery. After five days in intensive care, another three weeks in hospital and four to six months recovery, re-learning how to eat and talk Mr Hodge would have been left with disfiguring scars, and a voice that he may not recognise as his own. "My kids didn't want me to have it," Mr Hodge said. "But I'm not one to throw in the towel ... Then the unbelievable happened," he said. Mr Hodge became one of the first public patients to undergo robotic surgery for head, neck and throat cancer at Nepean Hospital, the state's only hospital offering the service to patients who can't afford private healthcare. Mr Hodge's surgeon, Associate Professor Ronald Chin, performed the trans oral robotic surgery (TORS) by guiding the robot's arm into his patient's open mouth to remove the cancerous tumour. "I went in on Monday morning for the surgery and I was discharged Tuesday night," Mr Hodge said of his surgery performed on June 19. "It's just amazing. Two days compared to six months recovering. "What's got me is that before it was only available to people who could pay the big money. I've worked all my life, [...]

Oral Cancer Foundation News Team - A2017-07-17T07:29:27-07:00July, 2017|Oral Cancer News|

Genetic variants are associated with susceptibility to mouth and throat cancer

Source: www.eurekalert.org Author: news release A number of genetic variants associated with susceptibility to oral cavity and pharyngeal cancer have been described in an international study published in the journal Nature Genetics. The most noteworthy finding was an association between cancer of the oropharynx and certain polymorphisms (alternative versions of a given DNA sequence) found in the human leukocyte antigen (HLA) genomic region. HLAs, proteins found on the surface of most cells in the body, play an important role in recognizing potential threats and triggering the immune response to foreign substances. According to Eloiza Helena Tajara, a professor at the São José do Rio Preto Medical School (FAMERP) in São Paulo State, Brazil, and co-author of the article, a specific group of variants in this region, located on chromosome 6, is associated with enhanced protection against oropharyngeal cancer caused by human papilloma virus (HPV). "Previous research showed that these same variants confer protection against cancer of the uterine cervix, which is known to be associated with HPV," Tajara said. "Our findings suggest that the genes that control the immune system play a key role in predisposition to HPV-related tumors. This discovery points to the possibility of clarifying the mechanisms whereby such tumors develop and of designing methods for monitoring risk groups." The study was coordinated by the International Agency for Research on Cancer (IARC) and involved 40 research groups in Europe, the United States, and South America. The Brazilian participants are members of the Head & Neck Genome Project (GENCAPO), [...]

Oral Cancer Foundation News Team - A2016-12-17T11:02:17-07:00December, 2016|Oral Cancer News|

Predicting throat cancer recurrence with a blood test

Source: knowridge.com Author: from University of Michigan Health System A new study suggests the possibility of predicting at its earliest stages when a type of head and neck cancer will come back. Oropharyngeal cancer — which occurs in the throat, tonsils and back of the tongue — is frequently linked to the human papilloma virus. That’s good news, in a way, as HPV-related cancers are generally more responsive to treatment. But for about 15 to 20 percent of these patients, the treatment won’t work and their cancer will return. There are no known biomarkers to predict when treatments are likely to fail. In a new study in Clinical Cancer Research, researchers found that patients whose oropharyngeal cancer recurred had higher levels of antibodies for two proteins, E6 and E7, which are found in HPV-fueled cancers. The finding suggests a potential blood-based marker that could predict when cancer is likely to return. For this study, researchers looked back at 52 patients with advanced oropharyngeal cancer who had enrolled in a prior study: 22 who had developed recurrence and 30 who had not. The two groups were similar in age, cancer classification and smoking status. All tumors were linked to the human papilloma virus. On average, cancer recurred 13 months after a patient’s treatment ended. Serum was measured via a blood test at diagnosis or start of treatment, then repeated after treatment ended and about every three months after. Initially, there was no difference in E6 and E7 antibody levels between those [...]

Oral Cancer Foundation News Team - A2016-12-17T10:55:56-07:00December, 2016|Oral Cancer News|