UCSF Professor of Oral Medicine speaks about Oral Cancer

Source: Dr.Bicuspid.com May 17, 2011 -- DrBicuspid.com is pleased to present a new feature series, Leaders in Dentistry, a series of interviews with researchers, practitioners, and opinion leaders who are influencing the practice of dentistry. For the first installment, we spoke with Sol Silverman Jr., DDS, a professor of oral medicine in the University of California, San Francisco (UCSF) School of Dentistry and head of one of the oral medicine clinics at UCSF. In addition to seeing patients in the clinic, his research is focused on the diagnosis and treatment of precancerous lesions, as well as effective anti-inflammatory agents for autoimmune diseases that do not have adverse side effects. An advocate for the prevention and early detection of oral cancer and an expert in the treatment of oral cancers, Dr. Silverman has helped develop training programs for dentists to better detect oral cancer and education programs on smoking cessation to reduce the risk of oral cancer. Sol Silverman, DDS, University of California, San Francisco School of Dentistry. Image courtesy of the University of California, San Francisco. DrBicuspid: What is the greatest challenge we face today regarding oral cancer? Dr. Silverman: Professional and public education. The No. 1 thing for professionals is to perform examinations and pursue any deviations from normal signs and/or symptoms and to take part in their patients' lives. If they have a patient who smokes, they should try to get them to stop smoking or tell them not to start. On the other hand, it's public education. [...]

2011-05-17T18:33:10-07:00May, 2011|Oral Cancer News|
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New Smokeless Tobacco from Sweden is Gaining Popularity in the US

Source: DrugFree.org A type of smokeless tobacco popular in Sweden called snus is growing in popularity in the United States. While most recognize that it is a safer alternative to cigarettes or older forms of smokeless tobacco, others are concerned that it will attract young people, becoming a steppingstone to cigarettes, says a researcher who spoke this week at the Smokeless Tobacco Summit in Austin, TX. There is also concern that smokers may use snus in places where they can’t smoke, which will encourage them to keep smoking instead of quitting, says Lois Biener, PhD, Adjunct Professor, Department of Psychology at the University Of Massachusetts – Boston and Senior Research Fellow at the Center for Survey Research, University Of Massachusetts – Boston. Snus (pronounced snoos) was first introduced in several U.S. test markets in 2006, and has been available nationwide since 2009. It is sold under several brands including Marlboro Snus and Camel Snus. The product is different from other types of smokeless tobacco in several important ways, Dr. Biener says. Snus is manufactured using a process that makes it lower in carcinogens called tobacco-specific nitrosamines. Snus also doesn’t stimulate saliva the way that snuff does and thus doesn’t require spitting. A person using snus puts a small pouch filled with the product between the lip and the gum. Dr. Biener’s research has shown that the primary group of snus users in the United States is male smokers. “There is very little trial of the product among females and virtually [...]

2011-05-16T11:25:33-07:00May, 2011|Oral Cancer News|
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HPV Becomes a Major Topic for Researchers as a Source of Oral Cancers

By Andy Blatchford, The Canadian Press MONTREAL — Amid Michael Douglas's personal and philanthropic battle with throat cancer, the Oscar-winning actor is shedding light on a viral form of the disease lurking in a growing number of mouths. Oral cancer has long been linked to tobacco and alcohol use, but an expanding body of research suggests human papillomavirus, or HPV, is an increasing cause of the deadly disease. The culprit behind the sexually transmitted virus' emergence in mouth and throat cancers? Experts say a major factor is the prevalence of oral sex. More and more researchers have cast their microscopes on the mysteries of HPV-caused oral cancers, including McGill University, which received a big fundraising boost last week with the help of Douglas. The grateful actor, diagnosed with throat cancer last year in a Montreal hospital, volunteered to headline a charity event for the McGill Head and Neck Cancer Fund. The 66-year-old, who calls himself a "poster boy" for head-and-neck cancer, has blamed alcohol as a likely source of his illness, not HPV. Still, a portion of the $2 million amassed at the event will support HPV-caused oral cancer research. The doctor who first detected the walnut-sized tumour in Douglas's throat said the fund has supported HPV projects in the past and more are in the works. "This is an area of increasing incidence," Dr. Saul Frenkiel said of HPV-caused oral cancer at the university-affiliated hospital where he treated Douglas. Although relatively rare, the Canadian Cancer Society estimates oral cancers, [...]

2011-05-09T14:38:18-07:00May, 2011|OCF In The News, Oral Cancer News|
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Michael Douglas turns alarming diagnosis into resources for Montreal hospital

Source: TheStar.com The atmosphere was electric when elegant, beleaguered actor Michael Douglas appeared at New York Fashion Week with his beautiful wife, Catherine Zeta-Jones. The glamourous couple had come out to support their designer pal Michael Kors, whose 30th anniversary show was part of the February shows at Lincoln Center. Like many fans, I breathed a sigh of relief when I saw the 66-year-old actor, looking chic in his tailored cashmere. Last summer, Douglas had been diagnosed with Stage 4 throat cancer. We had all said our prayers. This week, in gratitude to the doctor and hospital that helped save his life, Douglas appeared at a gala benefit in Montreal for the McGill Head and Neck Cancer Fund. But he was flying solo: Zeta-Jones, who was recently diagnosed and treated for bipolar II disorder, was at work on a film in the United States. Their family has gone through some unspeakably tough trials, but it appears things are happily back on track. At the gala, the dapper Douglas posed for countless pictures and chatted with guests, adamant about spreading the word that cancer can be beaten and a positive attitude is key. Free of the disease for three months now, Douglas told the crowd that his cancer had gone undiagnosed by doctors in the U.S. While on vacation at his farm outside Mont Tremblant in 2010, Douglas sought a second opinion from Dr. Saul Frenkiel, a head and neck surgeon at Montreal’s Jewish General Hospital. The chilling news: Douglas had [...]

2011-05-06T09:29:07-07:00May, 2011|Oral Cancer News|
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HPV & oral sex: link to increase oral cancer in men

Fort Worth— Dana Wilson is one of an estimated 20- million Americans who have HPV which caused cancer in his tongue and neck. Dana remembers getting the news after going to the doctor to have a lump in his neck checked. "It was a moment that you would probably bleep me for saying on air," Dana said. "It was one of those oh, moments." Dr. Jerry Barker is an oncologist at Texas Oncology in Fort Worth and said there is much to be learned about HPV. A recent study suggested that open mouth kissing could be a way to transmit the virus--but Dr. Barker said one thing is certain. "There is clearly a distinct correlation between head and neck cancer and the number of oral sexual partners in a patient's lifetime," Dr. Barker said. "It's an epidemic of human papillomavirus worldwide." Dr. Barker said the virus is increasing at about 2% to 3% a year--approximately the same rate as head and neck cancers--and today fewer Americans smoke. "It's interesting that ten or twenty years ago the majority of men and women who have head and neck cancers had heavy smoking and drinking histories," Dr. Barker said. "Now it tends of be young, non-smokers that are getting these cancers. Dana was treated with a combination of radiation and chemotherapy--today he is cancer free and mentors other head and neck cancer patients. "Was I shocked? Yea," Dana said. "Because probably like a lot of people my initial reaction was HPV, that's a [...]

2011-05-07T05:18:38-07:00May, 2011|Oral Cancer News|
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More than 100 people receive free oral exams, courtesy of the City of Gulfport.

Source: Gulfport.Patch.com The Walgreen’s parking lot in Gulfport became a dentist office for a day. And instead of paying a fee for a clinical exam, patients were seen for free. "I was very surprised because screenings of any kind are minimum of $35 to $50 dollars, so that was very nice. They advertised it very well," St. Petersburg resident Rosalind Dunlop said. This is the second year the City of Gulfport’s sponsored a free oral cancer screening The goal: to inform, educate and refer people to seek additional medical help if any signs are detected. "We have volunteer dentists, it takes a couple of minutes, there's no pain involved and it may save your life," Gulfport Vice Mayor David Hastings said. "It's a free exam, basically we've had all sorts of people come in. Some people regularly go to the dentist, I had one person, it had been 17 years since they had been to the dentist. So, all sorts of people that have come in and I think we found, two that I've found that just need to be referred," Dentist Lawrence N. Klein said. "Last year, we screened over 200 and we referred nine people out. This year, I've already seen about five referral sheets going out. It's not good to get the referral sheet, but on the same hand, it may be the thing that saves your life," Hastings said. "It's your responsibility to take care of your own health. If you don't want to know, I'm [...]

2011-04-27T15:54:14-07:00April, 2011|OCF In The News, Oral Cancer News|
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Protein inhibitor may supply contemporary HPV treatment

Source: Dr.Bicuspid.com Researchers from Tufts University School of Medicine have developed a protein-based inhibitor that could provide a topical treatment for HPV as an alternative to surgical and harsh chemical treatments (FASEB Journal, April 11, 2011). HPV affects about 20 million people in the U.S., making it the most common sexually transmitted infection. There are more than 100 types of HPV, of which more than 40 are sexually transmitted. These include two high-risk types, HPV-16 and HPV-18, which cause the majority of cervical and anogenital cancers, and some portion of head and neck cancers, particularly oral cavity and oropharynx cancers. "Currently, there is no cure for HPV, and the available treatment options involve destroying the affected tissue. We have developed a protein inhibitor that blocks HPV protein expression in cell culture, a first step toward a topically applied treatment for this cancer-causing virus," said senior author James Baleja, PhD, an associate professor of biochemistry at Tufts University School of Medicine. In their efforts to inhibit HPV, Baleja and his team zeroed in on the viral protein E2, which controls viral activities including DNA replication and the activation of cancer-causing genes. Using structure-guided design, the team developed a protein called E2R that prevents E2 from functioning normally. When the researchers applied E2R to a cell model of HPV biology, viral gene transcription was halted. Because HPV infects epithelial cells, the outermost layer of the skin, and the mucous membranes, protein inhibitors such as E2R could be applied in a topical form. [...]

2011-04-27T12:21:43-07:00April, 2011|Oral Cancer News|
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Oral sex is the number one cause of oral cancer in men

Source: The Village Voice We've mentioned before that oral sex had become a leading cause of oral cancer among men. The evil virus known as HPV, or the human papillomavirus, which is the main cause of cervical cancer in women, is, according to the Daily News, now leading to "epidemic proportions" of oral cancer in the U.S. among "mostly white, male, non-smokers in their late 30s and early 40s." This means that HPV via oral sex is causing more oral cancer in guys than either smoking or drinking. HPV is evil, indeed. The spike is greatest among men who've had more than five or six sexual partners, which is, let's be honest, a large percentage of the global single population. Women can also get the virus from men, though the chances are lower through oral sex. While the slut-shamers (be they male or female) may jump on this as a chance to say, if you're promiscuous, you will get cancer, that is not true. (Nor does 5 or 6 partners equal promiscuous, unless it's, say, all in one day.) Clearly, cancer sucks. But the surprisingly bright side about this is that suddenly HPV is less of a "dirty secret" that only affects women, that women are supposed to keep quiet and feel ashamed about. In fact, "nearly all sexually active Americans will come in contact with HPV, according to the Oral Cancer Foundation and the National Institutes of Health." Time we started talking about it. FYI: HPV is passed through [...]

2011-04-29T12:41:08-07:00April, 2011|Oral Cancer News|
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Oral sex is a major risk factor for oral cancer in men

Source: AOL News Rates of oral cancer are on the rise among men, and researchers say the culprit isn't the devil you might think. The rising rates of oral cancer aren't being caused by tobacco, experts say, but by HPV, the same sexually transmitted virus responsible for the vast majority of cases of cervical cancer in women. Millions of women and girls have been vaccinated against HPV, or human papillomavirus, but doctors now say men exposed to the STD during oral sex are at risk as well and may have higher chances of developing oral cancer. John Moore, Getty Images About 65 percent of oral cancer tumors were linked to HPV in 2007, according to the National Cancer Institute. And the uptick isn't occurring among tobacco smokers. "We're looking at non-smokers who are predominantly white, upper middle class, college-educated men," Brian Hill, the executive director of the Oral Cancer Foundation, told AOL News by phone. Tobacco use has declined over the past decade, but rates of HPV infections have risen and affect at least 50 percent of the sexually active American population, according to the Centers for Disease Control. HPV-16, the strain of the virus that causes cervical cancer in women, has become the leading cause of oral cancer in non-smoking men, Hill said, citing research in the New England Journal of Medicine. "When the No. 1 cause of your disease goes down [tobacco use], you would expect that the incidence of disease would go down, but that hasn't happened," he said. [...]

2011-04-21T13:48:09-07:00April, 2011|OCF In The News, Oral Cancer News|
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HPV is now the leading cause of oral cancer in the US: learn the facts.

Source: New York Daily News HPV, otherwise known as the human papillomavirus, is a leading cause of cervical cancer for women but the nasty virus is now causing a spike in oral cancer and ravaging an entirely different group: men. Cases of oral cancer resulting from exposure to the HPV-16 strain of the virus are hitting epidemic proportions in the U.S., doctors say. Though the mention of oral cancer evokes images of gravely-voiced chain-smokers, the disease now has a new face: mostly white, male, non-smokers in their late 30s and early 40s. The tumors forming on the back of their tongues and tonsils have nothing to do with nicotine – they are directly linked to engaging in oral sex with multiple female partners. "If you've had more than five or six sexual partners, you are at a higher risk," Dr. Eric M. Genden, professor and chair of head and neck surgery at Mount Sinai Medical center told the Daily News. "We're only now beginning to see the beginning of a bell curve." Women can get it from men as well although their chances are lower, according to doctors. The human papillomavirus (HPV), a nasty bug with strains that causes genital warts and cervical cancer in women, is now the top cause of oral cancer in men, beating out smoking and drinking, according to reports from the New England Journal of Medicine and the Journal of Oncology as well as other research and treating institutions. The number of smokers in the [...]

2011-04-21T13:52:00-07:00April, 2011|OCF In The News, Oral Cancer News|
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