A simple blood test capable of identifying lung cancer at an early stage is to be trialled by the NHS on thousands of smokers.

It his hoped the new test, developed in Britain and already piloted in the US, will drastically cut death rates, reduce medical bills and lead to an overhaul in the way cancer is diagnosed and treated.

Sir Harry Burns, Scotland’s chief medical officer, said the trial would involve 10,000 patients, mainly smokers, identified as having a higher risk of developing the disease. If successful, the £200-per-person procedure could be rolled out across the rest of the country.

“The earlier a cancer is diagnosed the greater the chance it can be treated successfully, and currently 85% of patients with lung cancer remain undiagnosed until the disease has reached an advanced stage,” Burns said. He said the detection programme aimed to increase early diagnosis by 25%.

Known as EarlyCDT-Lung, the test tracks increases in blood antibody levels that could signal the onset of cancer. Patients with raised levels will be referred for a CT scan – the x-ray-style imaging currently used to detect the disease.

Burns said the test would lead to greatly increased cancer survival rates. “By testing those at greatest risk of developing lung cancer and diagnosing it at its earliest possible stage, we stand a better chance of being able to treat it successfully,” he said.

Lung cancer claims about 35,000 lives a year in Britain and diagnosis is rarely made early enough to ensure effective treatment. about 93% of patients die within five years of the onset of symptoms.

Test developer John Robertson, professor of surgery at the University of Nottingham, said early trials in the US had improved the prognosis for a substantial number of patients. He said new breakthroughs were expected that would eventually identify all forms of the disease.

“We are working hard on bringing the next test for the early detection of breast cancer to the market within a year. we are also working on a number of similar tests for prostate, colon and ovarian cancer. a blood test to aid detection of all tumour cancers is still the overriding objective of our work.”

It is hoped that increasing survival rates will create major savings for the health service.

Once the Scottish trials are complete, it is understood the NHS will examine whether it is cost-effective for use in mass screening. If the results are positive, the UK national screening committee, which advises the government and the NHS, will decide how checks can be rolled out to millions of smokers across the country.

Smoking is associated with a wide range of ill effects to your health and those around you and Smokers cough is one such ill effect. Smokers cough is particularly seen in long term chronic smokers who are addicted to the habit for a prolonged period of time. Most new smokers usually do not develop this condition. many consider that the onset of smokers cough is a strong indication from the human body that smoking has started to cause irreparable loss. Apart from smokers, smokers cough is also seen in people working in unhealthy environments. For example, it has been observed to appear in people who work in environments that exposes the body to lung, nasal and throat irritants.

Just like smoking, continued long term exposure to these irritants becomes harmful to health and could ultimately lead to smokers cough.  The cough is broadly categorized into two, one is the dry cough and the other one is the chesty cough. The characteristic that separates these two coughs are that the chesty cough is accompanied with a lot of mucus. both are equally painful and need to be seriously considered for further treatment.

The human nose and the trachea have small tiny fibers known as cilia. their primary function is to keep harmful irritants from entering into the human body. Long term smoking affects the functioning of these cilia and it reduces the effectiveness of the cilia thus ultimately leading to a situation where in the cilia become totally nonfunctional. This is one of the main smokers cough symptoms. The smokers cough problem is worse while sleeping at night as the cilia no longer remains capable of moving the phlegm to the throat where it can be swallowed to get relief. Thus, most people suffering from smokers cough suffer from phlegm in their throats especially when they wake up in the morning.

This in turn leads to the reflex action of smokers cough in the morning in order to release the phlegm stuck in the throat and thus offer relief. Thus incessant coughing is another one of the smokers cough symptoms. In addition to smokers cough, the damaged cilia also can cause various other health hazards particularly respiratory illness, which is also another smokers cough symptoms as the cilia is considered to be a strong line of defense for the body from any external germ attack. Once these defense lines are taken down, it becomes very easy for the germs to infect the body and the person becomes susceptible to practically every form of respiratory illness. unlike the normal cough, the smokers cough lasts for a longer time and could potentially span several weeks before a relief is possible. Moreover, due to the increasing degradation in the cilia, the condition appears at very frequent intervals. In extreme cases the smokers cough symptoms include severe coughing that there have been instances wherein the patients have broken their ribs. other smokers cough symptoms include chest pain, wheezing and crackle. some have even reported shortness of breath causing severe breathlessness. Sometimes, smokers cough is also accompanied by diseases such as Chronic Bronchitis. This may lead to several other smokers cough symptoms like fatigue, confusion over simple things, pallor and even anxiety.

The primary smokers cough cause is smoking itself though there are cases wherein people in particular environments have reported smokers cough symptoms. Thus people working or living in environments that expose them to nasal, lung or throat irritants are also one of the smokers cough causes. many smokers are made to believe that the toxins inhaled during smoking are exhaled when the smoke leaves the body. This is not true as the body because of its inherent nature absorbs much of the toxins. Once these toxins are inside the human body, they usually start to destroy the defense mechanisms and starts reducing the immune levels. as the immune levels are lowered, the individual is directly affected by smoking but also becomes susceptible to other infections including viral and bacterial.

The best way to handle smokers cough is to give up the habit of smoking. However, due to prolonged addiction, it may be very difficult for an individual to stop smoking immediately. there are a number of rehabilitation centers as well as physicians who help smoker’s kick the habit at its butt. some of the smokers cough remedies includes chewing gum or candy as it helps an individual resist the temptation to smoke. Drinking water has been observed to have a huge number of beneficial impacts and this includes lubricating the throat making the smokers cough symptoms a little less painful. some of the smoker’s cough home remedies also include consuming lemon juice in order to supplement the deficiency of calcium and Vitamin C and other Vitamin D supplements to help cure people suffering from smokers cough.

Another smokers cough home remedy often cited to be helpful is using a paste made by mixing 1 tbsp. apple cider vinegar, ¼ tsp. red pepper, 1 tbsp. honey, ¼ tsp. ground ginger with 2 tbsp. water. when one teaspoon of this paste is consumed it helps reduce the smoker’s cough symptoms. other smokers cough home remedies include inhaling the vapors of boiled mint and eucalyptus leaves. some people have also practiced drinking milk boiled with garlic and sugar. These smokers cough home remedies have been around for decades and are even advised by medical practitioners as they come with no side effects whatsoever. Antibiotics are usually administered for patients suffering with smoker’s choice. Antihistamine is the most favored one as it suppresses the brain signals that prompt coughing. it should be noted that this is just a temporary relief and not a permanent cure of the underlying issue.

she smokes but she is quiting she is currently doing very well but when i went on the computer today i say that she looked up symptoms on lung cancer should i be worried

Not really – maybe she was just needing some help to remind her why she should quit.

Quitting smoking is hard, you should be proud of her.

No. she is probably just curious (as many smokers are) and maybe even looking stuff up like that to help motivate her to quit.

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During a regular annual physical exam, blood is usually drawn to check the health of a person’s heart, kidneys and liver. now, researchers at NewYork-Presbyterian Hospital/Weill Cornell Medical Center say a blood test that detects the early development of emphysema—well before symptoms occur—may someday also be offered.

In the March 11 online edition of the American Journal of Respiratory and Critical Care Medicine, the researchers say that because most cases of emphysema are caused by smoking, the test they are developing can warn smokers about impending development of the untreatable disease—which is currently a major cause of disability and death in the U.S.

Not all smokers develop emphysema, but those who find out they are at risk will be motivated to quit to halt progression of the disease, says the study’s lead investigator, Dr. Ronald G. Crystal, chairman and professor of genetic medicine and the Bruce Webster Professor of Internal Medicine at Weill Cornell Medical College and chief of the Division of Pulmonary and Critical Care Medicine at NewYork-Presbyterian Hospital/Weill Cornell Medical Center. 

“We know, from other studies, that smokers who learn from objective evidence that their health is in danger are much more likely to quit,” he says. “That is the only thing that will help them avoid this deadly disorder.”

Emphysema and chronic bronchitis are the twin disorders that make up chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD), which is now the fourth leading cause of death in Americans. Given the aging population, COPD is soon expected to move up to third in mortality prevalence, Dr. Crystal says.

The new test measures particles that are shed by tiny blood vessels known as capillaries that surround air sacs (alveoli) in lungs. These particles are debris shed by ongoing injury to the air sacs—damage that eventually results in devastation of the sacs and the “Swiss cheese” appearance of the lungs. the alveoli are where critical gas exchanges occur: blood in the capillaries brings carbon dioxide from the rest of the body for release into the air sacs, and the oxygen in the sacs (taken in from breathing) is taken up by the blood and transported to the rest of the body.

As the sacs are destroyed, people develop shortness of breath because they cannot take in enough oxygen to feed the body and eventually cannot remove carbon dioxide from the blood.

Dr. Crystal and his colleagues reasoned that as capillaries surrounding the air sacs are being injured, the debris would be carried out by the blood supply and could potentially be quantified as a disease biomarker. so they began to look for evidence of what they called endothelial microparticles (EMP).

“Our blood vessels are always being replenished, so we all have some level of EMPs in our blood,” he says. “What we are looking for are elevated levels of EMPs. for smokers, this is the equivalent of a smoke detector sounding its alarm; elevated levels of EMPs suggest their air sacs are being injured and it is time to act.”

To do this, the researchers enrolled three groups of people—healthy nonsmokers, healthy smokers, and smokers with early evidence of lung destruction. Study participants had their medical histories taken, and to gauge lung function in these participants, all underwent two pulmonary function tests. one is spirometry, which measures the volume and speed of air as it is inhaled and exhaled from the lungs. the other, known as DLCO, is the only lung function test available today that can detect emphysema in patients. it uses a machine that measures the ability of gases to diffuse across the alveolar-capillary membrane.

The researchers found a 95 percent positive correlation between elevated EMPs in the blood and an abnormal DLCO test result, meaning that it detected nearly all verified cases of early emphysema in participants.

Two other independent groups of participants were then given the same group of tests—spirometry, DLCO and the EMP blood test—and, once again, a positive EMP finding correlated with an abnormal DLCO 95 percent of the time. Differences in the spirometry findings had no bearing on results of DLCO or EMP.

DLCO, which must be administered by a pulmonologist, is most often used to confirm a suspicion of emphysema, Dr. Crystal says. By contrast, the EMP blood test is designed to be a simple, low-cost screening tool that can pick up development of emphysema in individuals who show no signs of the disorder.

“We need a blood test that can be administered to the 20 percent of American adults who smoke as well as nonsmokers exposed to secondhand smoke—all who may not understand their risk of developing this progressive lung disease,” says Dr. Crystal.

The researchers are conducting further studies of the EMP test in larger groups of participants in order to validate these initial findings.

The study was funded by grants from the National Institutes of Health.

Co-authors include Drs. Cynthia Gordon, Kirana Gudi, Anja Krause, Rachel Sackrowitz, Ben-Gary Harvey andYael Strulovici-Barel, all from NewYork-Presbyterian/Weill Cornell and Dr. Jason Mezey from Cornell University, Ithaca, N.Y.

For more information, patients may call (866) NYP-NEWS.

NewYork-Presbyterian Hospital/Weill Cornell Medical Center

NewYork-Presbyterian Hospital/Weill Cornell Medical Center, located in New York City, is one of the leading academic medical centers in the world, comprising the teaching hospital NewYork-Presbyterian and Weill Cornell Medical College, the medical school of Cornell University. NewYork-Presbyterian/Weill Cornell provides state-of-the-art inpatient, ambulatory and preventive care in all areas of medicine, and is committed to excellence in patient care, education, research and community service. Weill Cornell physician-scientists have been responsible for many medical advances—including the development of the Pap test for cervical cancer; the synthesis of penicillin; the first successful embryo-biopsy pregnancy and birth in the U.S.; the first clinical trial for gene therapy for Parkinson’s disease; the first indication of bone marrow’s critical role in tumor growth; and, most recently, the world’s first successful use of deep brain stimulation to treat a minimally conscious brain-injured patient. NewYork-Presbyterian Hospital also comprises NewYork-Presbyterian Hospital/Columbia University Medical Center, NewYork-Presbyterian/Morgan Stanley Children’s Hospital, NewYork-Presbyterian Hospital/Westchester Division and NewYork-Presbyterian/The Allen Hospital. NewYork-Presbyterian is the #1 hospital in the New York metropolitan area and is consistently ranked among the best academic medical institutions in the nation, according to U.S.News & World Report. Weill Cornell Medical College is the first U.S. medical college to offer a medical degree overseas and maintains a strong global presence in Austria, Brazil, Haiti, Tanzania, Turkey and Qatar.

Contact: John Rodgers 212-821-0560New York- Presbyterian Hospital/Weill Cornell Medical Center/Weill Cornell Medical College

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Researchers have found a way to detect emphysema in the blood before any symptoms appear.

Until now, the only way to diagnose the disease was when symptoms like shortness of breath start. Scientists hope this will save lives by getting smokers to quit sooner and will lead to a simple blood test for the disease. Chronic Obstructive Pulmonary Diseases like emphysema are the fourth leading killer of Americans.

Emphysema destroys air sacs in the lung, making it hard to breath.

That’s usually the first sign of the disease, but now researchers have developed a way to find it with a simple blood test. More study is needed before the blood test is approved for widespread use, but some doctors say it could convince smokers to quit earlier.

Finding emphysema early could save lives. Obstructive lung diseases like emphysema and chronic bronchitis are the third leading cause of death in the U.S.

Almost all those deaths are due to smoking.

Public release date: 11-Mar-2011 [ | E-mail | Share ] Contact: John .edu212-821-0560New York- Presbyterian Hospital/Weill Cornell Medical Center/Weill Cornell Medical College

NEW YORK (March 11, 2011) — during a regular annual physical exam, blood is usually drawn to check the health of a person’s heart, kidneys and liver. Now, researchers at NewYork-Presbyterian Hospital/Weill Cornell Medical Center say a blood test that detects the early development of emphysema — well before symptoms occur — may someday also be offered.

In the March 11 online edition of the American Journal of Respiratory and Critical Care Medicine, the researchers say that because most cases of emphysema are caused by smoking, the test they are developing can warn smokers about impending development of the untreatable disease — which is currently a major cause of disability and death in the U.S.

Not all smokers develop emphysema, but those who find out they are at risk will be motivated to quit to halt progression of the disease, says the study’s lead investigator, Dr. Ronald G. Crystal, chairman and professor of genetic medicine and the Bruce Webster Professor of Internal Medicine at Weill Cornell Medical College and chief of the Division of Pulmonary and Critical Care Medicine at NewYork-Presbyterian Hospital/Weill Cornell Medical Center.

“We know, from other studies, that smokers who learn from objective evidence that their health is in danger are much more likely to quit,” he says. “That is the only thing that will help them avoid this deadly disorder.”

Emphysema and chronic bronchitis are the twin disorders that make up chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD), which is now the fourth leading cause of death in Americans. given the aging population, COPD is soon expected to move up to third in mortality prevalence, Dr. Crystal says.

The new test measures particles that are shed by tiny blood vessels known as capillaries that surround air sacs (alveoli) in lungs. These particles are debris shed by ongoing injury to the air sacs — damage that eventually results in devastation of the sacs and the “Swiss cheese” appearance of the lungs. the alveoli are where critical gas exchanges occur: blood in the capillaries brings carbon dioxide from the rest of the body for release into the air sacs, and the oxygen in the sacs (taken in from breathing) is taken up by the blood and transported to the rest of the body.

As the sacs are destroyed, people develop shortness of breath because they cannot take in enough oxygen to feed the body and eventually cannot remove carbon dioxide from the blood.

Dr. Crystal and his colleagues reasoned that as capillaries surrounding the air sacs are being injured, the debris would be carried out by the blood supply and could potentially be quantified as a disease biomarker. so they began to look for evidence of what they called endothelial microparticles (EMP).

“Our blood vessels are always being replenished, so we all have some level of EMPs in our blood,” he says. “What we are looking for are elevated levels of EMPs. For smokers, this is the equivalent of a smoke detector sounding its alarm; elevated levels of EMPs suggest their air sacs are being injured and it is time to act.”

To do this, the researchers enrolled three groups of people — healthy nonsmokers, healthy smokers, and smokers with early evidence of lung destruction. Study participants had their medical histories taken, and to gauge lung function in these participants, all underwent two pulmonary function tests. one is spirometry, which measures the volume and speed of air as it is inhaled and exhaled from the lungs. the other, known as DLCO, is the only lung function test available today that can detect emphysema in patients. It uses a machine that measures the ability of gases to diffuse across the alveolar-capillary membrane.

The researchers found a 95 percent positive correlation between elevated EMPs in the blood and an abnormal DLCO test result, meaning that it detected nearly all verified cases of early emphysema in participants.

Two other independent groups of participants were then given the same group of tests — spirometry, DLCO and the EMP blood test — and, once again, a positive EMP finding correlated with an abnormal DLCO 95 percent of the time. Differences in the spirometry findings had no bearing on results of DLCO or EMP.

DLCO, which must be administered by a pulmonologist, is most often used to confirm a suspicion of emphysema, Dr. Crystal says. By contrast, the EMP blood test is designed to be a simple, low-cost screening tool that can pick up development of emphysema in individuals who show no signs of the disorder.

“We need a blood test that can be administered to the 20 percent of American adults who smoke as well as nonsmokers exposed to secondhand smoke — all who may not understand their risk of developing this progressive lung disease,” says Dr. Crystal.

The researchers are conducting further studies of the EMP test in larger groups of participants in order to validate these initial findings.

###

The study was funded by grants from the National Institutes of Health.

Co-authors include Drs. Cynthia Gordon, Kirana Gudi, Anja Krause, Rachel Sackrowitz, Ben-Gary Harvey andYael Strulovici-Barel, all from NewYork-Presbyterian/Weill Cornell and Dr. Jason Mezey from Cornell University, Ithaca, N.Y.

For more information, patients may call (866) NYP-NEWS.

NewYork-Presbyterian Hospital/Weill Cornell Medical Center

NewYork-Presbyterian Hospital/Weill Cornell Medical Center, located in new York City, is one of the leading academic medical centers in the world, comprising the teaching hospital NewYork-Presbyterian and Weill Cornell Medical College, the medical school of Cornell University. NewYork-Presbyterian/Weill Cornell provides state-of-the-art inpatient, ambulatory and preventive care in all areas of medicine, and is committed to excellence in patient care, education, research and community service. Weill Cornell physician-scientists have been responsible for many medical advances — including the development of the Pap test for cervical cancer; the synthesis of penicillin; the first successful embryo-biopsy pregnancy and birth in the U.S.; the first clinical trial for gene therapy for Parkinson’s disease; the first indication of bone marrow’s critical role in tumor growth; and, most recently, the world’s first successful use of deep brain stimulation to treat a minimally conscious brain-injured patient. NewYork-Presbyterian Hospital also comprises NewYork-Presbyterian Hospital/Columbia University Medical Center, NewYork-Presbyterian/Morgan Stanley Children’s Hospital, NewYork-Presbyterian Hospital/Westchester Division and NewYork-Presbyterian/The Allen Hospital. NewYork-Presbyterian is the #1 hospital in the new York metropolitan area and is consistently ranked among the best academic medical institutions in the nation, according to U.S.News & World Report. Weill Cornell Medical College is the first U.S. medical college to offer a medical degree overseas and maintains a strong global presence in Austria, Brazil, Haiti, Tanzania, Turkey and Qatar. For more information, visit nyp.org and weill.cornell.edu.

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Bladder cancer is the cancer affecting the inner lining of the bladder.it can be cured if detected at an early stage.Symptoms of bladder cancer includes frequent and painful urination, blood in urine, pain in back and abdomen etc.

A number of factors like smoking, exposure to radiations, age etc. has been assumed to be the cause of bladder cancer.However the exact cause is not known yet.

Men are prone to bladder cancer more than women.it is likely to occur in people aged above 60 mostly.there is not much ways by which you can prevent bladder cancer.But you can certainly reduce the risk of getting affected by bladder cancer by making few changes in your lifestyle.so to prevent bladder cancer, start taking few precautions right away.

First and most important thing you can do to prevent bladder cancer is to quit smoking. Certain studies have suggested that smokers are more prone to bladder cancer than people who do not smoke.Moreover smoking could result in a number of other forms of cancer also.so refrain from all your bad habits to prevent such diseases.

If you work in some place where you are continuously exposed to any sort of chemicals or radiations then make sure to protect yourself from those substances.it has been proved that people who work in such conditions are likely to develop cancer.So cover yourself in every way to protect yourself and prevent bladder cancer.

People tend to completely ignore their diet.But most studies have revealed that diet could play a major role in preventing most forms of cancer.so ensure that you eat a healthy and well balanced diet.Include plenty of fruits and vegetables to your daily meals.Cabbage, broccoli, radish and other cruciferous vegetables are a must in your diet to keep bladder cancer away.

Increase in uptake of raw fruits and vegetables will also increase your immunity and interfere with the multiplication process of tumorous cells.Also make sure that you drink plenty of water throughout the day to flush out all impurities off your body.start taking these precautions from right this moment to prevent such ailments in your old age.Also make regular visits to your doctor and get yourself checked for any such ailment.So make sure that you lead a healthy life to prevent bladder cancer.

The pancreas is an organ shaped like a tube sponge / sponge with a length of approximately six inches, which is found behind the stomach. the pancreas produces enzymes and hormones, including insulin. Pancreatic enzymes help digest food in the small intestine, whereas insulin to control blood sugar levels. both enzymes and hormones necessary for maintaining the body to work with the most frightening benar.Gangguan that occurred in this organ is pancreatic cancer. Pancreatic cancer can be very vicious, to result in death. many sufferers die within a year after diagnosis. While that can survive only about 4%. the National Cancer Intitute very rare mentions of pancreatic cancer can be cured.

Smoking is one risk factor for pancreatic cancer incidence. the incidence in smokers increased 3 times more than non-smokers. Lack of activity, chronic pancreatic disease, diabetes and cirrhosis is a risk factor. according to the American Cancer Society, the number of patients with pancreatic cancer is increasing in countries where the people accustomed to a diet high in fat. Pancreatic cancer is very rare in those aged less than 45 years.

Pancreatic cancer is difficult to diagnose in its early stages because almost without symptoms, whereas physical observation and blood tests often show normal results.

Patients with pancreatic cancer usually only show general symptoms such as high fever, weight loss, and abdominal pain. When cancer spreads, pain developed in the upper abdomen and sometimes the back. When eating or lying sick added.Therefore, the patient will be nausea, loss of appetite, weight loss, and weak. in addition, because pancreatic cancer in the head could be related to the disposal in the bile (digestive fluid produced by the liver) into the small intestine, jaundice (yellow discoloration of the skin and white of the eye) caused by blockage of bile flow is usually the initial symptoms.

Jaundice was itchy all over the body due to storage of bile salt crystals under the skin. Vomiting can result from things when pancreatic cancer in the head blocking the flow of stomach contents into the small intestine (blockage of the gastric tract) or blockage of the small intestine.

The first symptom is usually also indicated by pain and weight loss. at the time of diagnosis, 90% of people experiencing severe pain in the upper abdomen that penetrate to the back, as well as significant weight loss.

For patients with cancer that is still smaller than 2 cm, with no spread to lymph nodes, cancer surgery can save patients up to five years at least. this possibility could reach 18-24%. Cancer treatment depends on the number of factors, such as cancer type, size and spread of cancer, as well as overall patient condition and age. although difficult to cure, but doctors will attempt to treat the patient for quality of life improved among others by surgery, radiotherapy, or chemotherapy. Usually the treatment for pancreatic cancer is extraordinary. Treatment will give effect to nausea, flushed skin, hair loss, poor appetite, weakness, and weight loss. Nutrition and good lifestyle are needed to support the treatment process.

src: anzoen.com/2009/11/ganasnya-penyakit-kanker-pankreas.html

Last night’s BBC three documentary, presented by actress Jaime Winstone, discusses the newest potential cause of cancer – oral sex.

But before you declare a life of celibacy or start railing against those fun-killing scientists, we want to clarify exactly what we do and don’t know on this topic.

The reality is that there are still many pieces missing from the puzzle.

HPV and oral cancer

Oral cancer (also known as mouth cancer) rarely hits the headlines. People traditionally think of it as a disease that affects smokers and heavy drinkers in later life. but over recent years, as oral cancer rates have been increasing , so too has evidence for a new cause of the disease.

We now know that certain strains of a common virus called human papillomavirus (HPV) can also cause oral cancer, alongside tobacco, alcohol, betel quid and a poor diet.

We normally talk about HPV in the context of cervical cancer, and it is the main cause of this disease. but the virus can infect other areas of our body. Spread by skin-to-skin contact, not just by sex, HPV affects almost everyone at some stage in their life.

But there’s no need for undue alarm. in most of us, our immune system fights it off and it doesn’t do any harm. but on rare occasions, the virus takes hold, leading to a chain of events that ends in cancer of the cervix, penis, anus, vagina or mouth.

We know that around fifteen strains of HPV can cause cervical cancer, and that the most common of these – HPV-16 – can also cause oral cancer. but we don’t know how often HPV infections lead to oral cancer, nor how the virus ends up in the mouth.

Oral cancer on the increase

Oral cancer – which includes cancers of the lip, tongue, gums, tonsils and parts of the throat – has been on the increase for about thirty years. in 2009, we highlighted oral cancer as one of the fastest rising cancers in the UK, now affecting around  5000 people each year.

Rates of a certain type of oral cancer – cancer of the tonsil – seem to have been rising especially rapidly. according to the latest statistics, there are around 1,100 cases of these cancers every year in the UK.

Scientists agree that many of these tonsil cancers are linked with HPV. but they aren’t sure exactly how many are related to the virus, and estimates vary from 15 to 85%, depending on the smoking rates in the study population.

This isn’t all bad news. for some reason, oral cancer patients tend to have better outcomes when their tumours test positive for HPV. at the moment, we don’t know why this is.

How does HPV end up in the mouth?

A few case-control studies have suggested that oral sex may be the main way that HPV ends up in the mouth. One of the largest and best of these studies found that people who had more than six oral sex partners, or more than 26 vaginal sex partners in their lifetime had an increased risk of oral cancer.

But the authors of the this US study themselves concluded

Our data suggest that oral HPV is sexually acquired… but we cannot rule out transmission through direct mouth-to-mouth contact, or through other means.

Indeed one study of around 200 college-age men found that those who had more ‘open-mouth kissing partners’ had a higher risk of getting an oral HPV infection.

But these studies about oral sex or kissing have been small, and their results are not conclusive. up to now, all of the studies on this topic have been ‘case-control studies’. this means that they asked people who had already been diagnosed with oral cancer about their sexual behaviour, often many years ago. this could mean that their responses aren’t entirely reliable. where possible scientists prefer to ask about behaviours in a large group of healthy people, and then look at cancer rates in this group years later (these are known as ‘prospective studies’).

The HPV vaccine and oral cancer

The BBC’s documentary raised the issue of the HPV vaccination and oral cancer. The HPV vaccine protects against two high-risk strains of HPV (16 and 18). it is very effective at preventing cervical cancer and it is already being offered to teenage girls at school.

Some scientists argue that boys should be vaccinated too. High-risk strains of HPV do indeed cause penile and anal cancers in men as well as cervical cancer in women. but studies suggest that, overall, vaccinating males wouldn’t be an effective use of NHS resources, as long as enough women agree to have the vaccine.

If the vaccine also protects against oral cancer, that could change things. but it’s too early to jump to that conclusion because scientists don’t know yet whether the vaccine could prevent HPV infection in the mouth.

So where does that leave us?

Certainly oral cancer is on the increase, and HPV appears to be playing a role. but there are still a lot of unanswered questions about oral sex, human papillomavirus and oral cancer.  for example, we still need to find out:

• How exactly do people contract HPV infections in their mouths, and how does that affect their risk of mouth cancer? we need large studies to answer this question.
• How common are oral HPV infections in the UK? what happens to these infections? how many of them clear up by themselves and how many persist?
• How long does it take for an infection to lead to oral cancer? and in the meantime, are these signs that doctors and dentists could look for to help screen for the disease?
• Is the HPV vaccine effective against oral HPV infections? does this affect decisions about the age at which girls are vaccinated and whether boys should be vaccinated too?

Scientists from across the world, including many funded by Cancer Research UK, are working hard to answer them.

Hazel Nunn is a senior health information manager at Cancer Research UK

this entry was posted on Monday, January 10th, 2011 at 9:00 pm and is filed under Cancer in the news, HPV, Mouth, Risks & Causes. you can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. you can skip to the end and leave a response. Pinging is currently not allowed.