(Press-News.org) DETROIT – Even though the human papillomavirus (HPV) is a risk factor for certain head and neck cancers, its presence could make all the difference in terms of survival, especially for African Americans with throat cancer, say Henry Ford Hospital researchers.
According to their new study, HPV has a substantial impact on overall survival in African Americans with oropharyngeal cancer, a cancer that affects part of the throat, the base of the tongue, the tonsils, the soft palate (back of the mouth), and the walls of the pharynx (throat).
The study shows African Americans who are HPV positive have better outcomes than African Americans without HPV.
Further, African Americans who are HPV negative not only have poorer survival compared to African Americans with HPV, they also did worse than Caucasians both with HPV and without HPV present in oropharyngeal cancer.
"This study adds to the mounting evidence of HPV as a racially-linked sexual behavior lifestyle risk factor impacting survival outcomes for both African American and Caucasian patients with oropharyngeal cancer," says lead author Maria J. Worsham, Ph.D., director of research in the Department of Otolaryngology-Head & Neck Surgery at Henry Ford.
Study results will be presented Sunday, July 22 at the 8th International Conference on Head & Neck Cancer in Toronto. The research was funded by a National Institutes of Health grant.
The American Cancer Society's estimates about 35,000 people in the U.S. will get oral cavity and oropharyngeal cancers in 2012; an estimated 6,800 people will die of these cancers.
Similar to other cancers of the head and neck cancer, risk factors include smoking, alcohol consumption. HPV is also a risk factor for oropharyngeal cancer.
To compare survival outcomes in HPV positive and HPV negative African Americans with oropharyngeal cancer, Dr. Worsham and her team conducted a retrospective study of 118 patients.
Among the study group, 67 are HPV negative and 51 are HPV positive. Forty-two of those in the study are African American.
The study found that:
African Americans are less likely to be HPV positive
Those older than 50 are less likely to be HPV positive
Those with late-stage oropharyngeal cancer are more likely to be unmarried and more likely to be HPV positive
HPV negative patients had 2.9 times the risk of death as HPV positive patients
Overall, the HPV race groups differed with significantly poorer survival for HPV negative African Americans versus HPV positive African Americans, HPV positive Caucasians and HPV negative Caucasians
INFORMATION:
Along with Dr. Worsham, study co-authors from Henry Ford are Josena K. Stephen, M.D.; Meredith Mahan; Kang Mei Chen, M.D.; Shaleta Havard; and George Divine, Ph.D.
HPV improves survival for African-Americans with throat cancer
2012-07-20
ELSE PRESS RELEASES FROM THIS DATE:
Scientists discover melanoma-driving genetic changes caused by sun damage
2012-07-20
HOUSTON — It's been a burning question in melanoma research: Tumor cells are full of ultraviolet (UV)-induced genetic damage caused by sunlight exposure, but which mutations drive this cancer?
None have been conclusively tied to melanoma. The sheer abundance of these passenger mutations has obscured the search for genetic driver mutations that actually matter in melanoma development and progression.
By creating a method to spot the drivers in a sea of passengers, scientists at the Broad Institute of MIT and Harvard, the Dana-Farber Cancer Institute and The University ...
Understanding flirtation in negotiation, 'shooter bias,' love during marriage, and more
2012-07-20
The benefits of flirtation in negotiation
Does flirtation help or hurt a woman negotiating? According to new research, it helps – creating better economic outcomes for the female negotiators, if the flirtatiousness is perceived as above and beyond friendliness. The study examined "feminine charm" in negotiations through four different experiments, looking at the balance between friendliness and flirtatiousness. Flirtation as opposed to friendliness, the research found, signals self-interest and competitiveness. "Feminine Charm: An Experimental Analysis of its Costs and ...
In utero exposure to diesel exhaust a possible risk factor for obesity
2012-07-20
Bethesda, MD—Pregnant mice exposed to high levels of air pollution gave birth to offspring with a significantly higher rate of obesity and insulin resistance in adulthood than those that were not exposed to air pollution. This effect seemed especially prevalent in male mice, which were heavier regardless of diet. These findings, published online in the FASEB Journal, suggests a link between diesel exhaust exposure in utero and bulging waistlines in adulthood.
"It is becoming clearer that our environment profoundly affects our health in ways that are little understood," ...
Virus discovered in Cultus Lake sport fish
2012-07-20
A Simon Fraser University fish-population statistician, working in collaboration with non-government organization scientists, has uncovered evidence of a potentially deadly virus in a freshwater sport fish in B.C.
SFU professor Rick Routledge and Stan Proboszcz, a fisheries biologist at the Watershed Watch Salmon Society, have found evidence of the piscine reovirus (PRV) in cutthroat trout caught in Cultus Lake, in the Fraser Valley region of B.C.
Tests conducted by, Fred Kibenge, a virology professor at the Atlantic Veterinary College in Prince Edward Island, found ...
A wrinkle in space-time
2012-07-20
Mathematicians at UC Davis have come up with a new way to crinkle up the fabric of space-time -- at least in theory.
"We show that space-time cannot be locally flat at a point where two shock waves collide," said Blake Temple, professor of mathematics at UC Davis. "This is a new kind of singularity in general relativity."
The results are reported in two papers by Temple with graduate students Moritz Reintjes and Zeke Vogler, respectively, both published in the journal Proceedings of the Royal Society A.
Einstein's theory of general relativity explains gravity as a ...
UGA researchers develop rapid diagnostic test for pathogens, contaminants
2012-07-20
Athens, Ga. – Using nanoscale materials, researchers at the University of Georgia have developed a single-step method to rapidly and accurately detect viruses, bacteria and chemical contaminants.
In a series of studies, the scientists were able to detect compounds such as lactic acid and the protein albumin in highly diluted samples and in mixtures that included dyes and other chemicals. Their results suggest that the same system could be used to detect pathogens and contaminants in biological mixtures such as food, blood, saliva and urine.
"The results are unambiguous ...
Scripps Research scientists show potent new compound virtually eliminates HIV in cell culture
2012-07-20
JUPITER, FL, July 19, 2012 – A new study by scientists on the Florida campus of The Scripps Research Institute shows, in cell culture, a natural compound can virtually eliminate human immunodeficiency virus (HIV) in infected cells. The compound defines a novel class of HIV anti-viral drugs endowed with the capacity to repress viral replication in acutely and chronically infected cells.
The HIV/AIDS pandemic continues to affect 34 million individuals worldwide, including more than 3 million children, according to the World Health Organization. Current treatment involves ...
An earthquake in a maze
2012-07-20
PASADENA, Calif.—The powerful magnitude-8.6 earthquake that shook Sumatra on April 11, 2012, was a seismic standout for many reasons, not the least of which is that it was larger than scientists thought an earthquake of its type could ever be. Now, researchers from the California Institute of Technology (Caltech) report on their findings from the first high-resolution observations of the underwater temblor, they point out that the earthquake was also unusually complex—rupturing along multiple faults that lie at nearly right angles to one another, as though racing through ...
Farmers tough on artificial limbs
2012-07-20
CHICAGO --- When a farmer or rancher is injured on the job, there's an 11 percent chance that an amputation will occur. That's two and a half times more likely than in any other industry.
Most of these amputations involve fingers or toes. But the artificial hands, arms, legs, feet and other prostheses used by agricultural workers with a major limb amputation don't seem to be durable, affordable or adaptable enough for their lifestyles, according to a new Northwestern Medicine study.
Published online in the journal Disability and Rehabilitation: Assistive Technology, ...
Red hair is a sign of oxidative stress in wild boars, but gray is a-ok
2012-07-20
A coat of a certain color could be costly for wild boars, according to research published in the journal Physiological and Biochemical Zoology.
The research, led by Ismael Galván of Spain's Museo Nacional de Ciencias Naturales, found that boars with more reddish hair tend to have higher levels of oxidative stress—damage that occurs as toxins from cell respiration build up. The reason for this, the researchers suggest, is that the process of producing reddish pigment eats up a valuable antioxidant that would otherwise be fighting the free radicals that lead to oxidative ...