(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.
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. “There’s 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
there’s 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.”
SOURCE: Ivanhoe interview with Thomas Carey, Ph.D.; Journal of Clinical
Oncology, published online May 12, 2008
