human papillomavirus – Page 23

Second primary cancers after an index head and neck cancer: subsite-specific trends in the era of human papillomavirus–associated oropharyngeal cancer

Source: jco.ascopubs.org Authors: Luc G.T. Morris et al. Purpose: Patients with head and neck squamous cell carcinoma (HNSCC) are at elevated risk of second primary malignancies (SPM), most commonly of the head and neck (HN), lung, and esophagus. Our objectives were to identify HNSCC subsite-specific differences in SPM risk and distribution and to describe trends in risk over 3 decades, before and during the era of human papillomavirus (HPV) –associated oropharyngeal SCC. Methods: Population-based cohort study of 75,087 patients with HNSCC in the Surveillance, Epidemiology, and End Results (SEER) program. SPM risk was quantified by using standardized incidence ratios (SIRs), excess absolute risk (EAR) per 10,000 person-years at risk (PYR), and number needed to observe. Trends in SPM risk were analyzed by using joinpoint log-linear regression. Results: In patients with HNSCC, the SIR of second primary solid tumor was 2.2 (95% CI, 2.1 to 2.2), and the EAR was 167.7 cancers per 10,000 PYR. The risk of SPM was highest for hypopharyngeal SCC (SIR, 3.5; EAR, 307.1 per 10,000 PYR) and lowest for laryngeal SCC (SIR, 1.9; EAR, 147.8 per 10,000 PYR). The most common SPM site for patients with oral cavity and oropharynx SCC was HN; for patients with laryngeal and hypopharyngeal cancer, it was the lung. Since 1991, SPM risk has decreased significantly among patients with oropharyngeal SCC (annual percentage change in EAR, −4.6%; P = .03). Conclusion: In patients with HNSCC, the risk and distribution of SPM differ significantly according to subsite of the index cancer. Before [...]

Oral Cancer Foundation News Team - A2011-02-19T10:13:38-07:00February, 2011|Oral Cancer News|

Survival and human papillomavirus in oropharynx cancer in TAX 324: a subset analysis from an international phase III trial

Source: annonc.oxfordjournals.org Authors: M. R. Posner et al. Background: The association between human papillomavirus (HPV) and overall survival (OS) in oropharynx cancer (OPC) was retrospectively examined in TAX 324, a phase III trial of sequential therapy for locally advanced head and neck cancer. Methods: Accrual for TAX 324 was completed in 2003 and data updated through 2008. Pretherapy tumor biopsies were studied by PCR for human papillomavirus type 16 and linked to OS, progression-free survival (PFS) and demographics. Results: Of 264 patients with OPC, 111 (42%) had evaluable biopsies; 56 (50%) were HPV+ and 55 (50%) were HPV−. HPV+ patients were significantly younger (54 versus 58 years, P = 0.02), had T1/T2 primary cancers (49% versus 20%, P = 0.001), and had a performance status of zero (77% versus 49%, P = 0.003). OS and PFS were better for HPV+ patients (OS, hazard ratio = 0.20, P

Oral Cancer Foundation News Team - A2011-02-12T15:06:18-07:00February, 2011|Oral Cancer News|

HPV: To test or not to test

Source: www.rdhmag.com Author: Nancy W. Burkhart, RDH, EdD The dental practitioner has a responsibility to examine and assess the oral tissue status of all patients. Usually, we are happy to report that the tissue is healthy and no further treatment is necessary. Ethically, our role in assessment is both an understood practice as well as a legal one each time we interact with our patients. Within your practice, what is the expected role in assessing and relaying advice/recommendations to our patients? Do we rely strictly on scientific evidence with evidence-based protocol? Do we trust the developers/promoters of dental products to provide information to us? Do we relay personal opinion from colleagues, or do we reject opinion-based information? Do we search the scientific literature for current information, or call our colleagues and company representatives and obtain a consensus of what the best options may be for dissemination of information? We have all been in these situations. With busy practices, it is very time consuming to sit down and evaluate all the literature. Anyone who has been faced with a medical decision for a loved one or ourselves may actually feel exhausted while trying to sort through all of the options, treatments, and advice – some of which may even be at odds within specific group specialties in the way treatment is rendered. It can be very daunting, draining us both mentally and physically. So how do we approach this dilemma? For some time, we have known about the detrimental [...]

Oral Cancer Foundation News Team - A2011-01-05T12:42:31-07:00January, 2011|OCF In The News, Oral Cancer News|

A cancer vaccine is born

Source: www.rochester.edu Author: Corydon Ireland Room 3-5135 at the Medical Center looks like a hundred other cubbyholes of basic science. A gray metal door decorated with the obligatory cartoon leads into a space the size of a motel room. White lab coats drape on wire hangers. Plain shelves, a desk, and a computer surround a breast-high bench arrayed with instrumentation. The paint scheme: early dorm room. “The posters are to cover the holes in the walls,” jokes William Bonnez, an associate professor of medicine and a veteran researcher who says not much has changed inside the room in a quarter century. But this is no ordinary workspace, and some day it may merit a plaque. Here, starting more than two decades ago, Bonnez and University colleagues Richard Reichman, a professor of medicine, and Robert Rose ’94M (PhD), an associate professor of medicine, developed the key technology behind two vaccines that may eliminate cervical cancer, a disease that each year kills 250,000 women internationally, including 4,500 Americans. One vaccine using the Rochester technology is Gardasil, developed by pharmaceutical giant Merck, that’s expected to be on the market some time this year. Another candidate is Cervarix, developed by GlaxoSmithKline, that could be ready by 2008. Gardasil “is a phenomenal breakthrough,” Gloria A. Bachmann told Newsday last fall when results of the final trial for the vaccine were released. She’s director of the Women’s Health Institute at the Robert Wood Johnson Medical School in New Jersey and was not involved with the Rochester [...]

Oral Cancer Foundation News Team - A2011-01-04T20:18:41-07:00January, 2011|Oral Cancer News|

Is oral sex safe?

Source: BBC Three Author: staff Darren was diagnosed with orophyrangeal cancer, a rare form of mouth cancer at the age of only 31. But that wasn't the only shocking news that he had to deal with. Most oral cancers are caused by smoking or drinking but Darren's cancer was caused by the Human Papillomavirus (HPV) which is sexually transmitted. Darren had caught it through having oral sex. And he's not alone. New research shows that there has been a dramatic increase in the number of HPV-related oral cancers amongst young people. Actress Jaime Winstone sets out to discover why the statistics are rising and whether anything can be done to stop this trend. Having met Darren, Jaime wants to know more. She's sadly got an intimate relationship with cancer as filming began for this programme, her close friend Paul, a DJ, died from pancreatic cancer aged only 26. Whilst his cancer wasn't preventable, Darren's was. HPV is recognised as the cause of cervical cancer in women and so two years ago the Government introduced a national vaccination programme for teenage girls. But if a vaccine exists, why isn't it also given to boys to protect them from developing HPV-related cancers? Although this oral cancer is still relatively rare, the HP virus is common, with an estimated 80% of adults having it, without any symptoms, during their lives. Jaime is a woman with a mission to understand and her journey takes her to meet Dr Margaret Stanley, a world expert on [...]

Oral Cancer Foundation News Team - A2010-12-26T08:21:02-07:00December, 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|

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|

Oropharyngeal cancer epidemic and human papillomavirus

Source: www.foodconsumer.org Authors: 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. Study 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). [...]

Oral Cancer Foundation News Team - A2010-11-07T09:39:03-07:00November, 2010|Oral Cancer News|

Beware the signs of mouth cancer

Source: www.pressandjournal.co.uk Author: Lisa Salmon Most people think of a mouth ulcer as a minor irritation that will disappear in a few days. Normally they’re right. But if the ulcer doesn’t heal and lasts longer than three weeks, it could be a sign of something more sinister: mouth cancer. Mouth, or oral, cancer, which can affect the lips, tongue, cheeks and throat, is one of the UK’s fastest-growing cancers. In the past decade, incidences have risen by 41% and, of the 5,000 people diagnosed with the disease every year, it kills around 2,000 of them. That’s one every five hours. About 70% of mouth cancers are detected at a late stage, which dramatically reduces the chances of survival. Yet if the cancer is detected early, more than 90% of people survive. For that reason, the British Dental Health Foundation (BDHF) has organised Mouth Cancer Action Month. In November, the organisation aims to raise awareness of the condition – which recently struck the film star Michael Douglas – so that people recognise the warning signs and are regularly checked for mouth cancer by their dentist. Signs include ulcers which haven’t healed after three weeks and lumps, or red or white patches, in the mouth, all of which can be mistaken for something less serious. In addition, swelling below the neck or chin, pain when chewing or swallowing, or a feeling that you have something in your throat that can’t be swallowed, can also indicate the disease. If you have any of [...]

Oral Cancer Foundation News Team - A2010-10-31T11:01:56-07:00October, 2010|Oral Cancer News|