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By Meghan Yost, Ivanhoe Health Correspondent
(Ivanhoe Newswire) -- The type of tongue and tonsil cancers that responds best to treatment are those linked to human papillomavirus (HPV), while tumors that express a certain growth factor are the least responsive and most deadly, a new study reveals. This new information could lead to improved treatment.
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This year, about 35,300 people in the United States will be diagnosed with head and neck cancer, according to the American Cancer Society. While decreases in smoking rates have reduced some types of head and neck cancers, HPV-induced cancers of the tonsils and base of the tongue are on the rise. Theres an epidemic of HPV infection and cancer development, Thomas Carey, Ph.D., senior author and co-director of the head and neck oncology program at the University of Michigan Comprehensive Cancer Center in Ann Arbor, told Ivanhoe. The likelihood of getting HPV-positive oral pharynx cancer is directly related to the number of lifetime sexual partners and to the number of oral sex partners, he added. HPV is the same virus that causes cervical cancer.
Researchers treated 66 patients with advanced oropharyngeal cancer. Sixty-four percent of the tumors were HPV-positive and almost all of them responded to initial chemotherapy. Seventy-eight percent of those patients survived with their organs intact while only four of the fifteen HPV-negative study participants lived. The outcome was worse for those whose tumors that had high levels of the epidermal growth factor receptor (EGFR) gene.
Researchers hope this information will lead to better treatment of head and neck cancer. The treatments that are being used right now are very effective, but theres a lot of morbidity associated with this type of intensive treatment, which involves combined chemotherapy and radiation, Dr. Carey said. Quality of speech and the ability to swallow is often affected by therapy. Our eventual goal is to actually select patients for specific therapy depending on these markers.
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SOURCE: Ivanhoe interview with Thomas Carey, Ph.D.; Journal of Clinical Oncology, published online May 12, 2008
This article was reported by Ivanhoe.com, who offers Medical Alerts by e-mail every day of the week. To subscribe, go to: http://www.ivanhoe.com/newsalert/.
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