National Cancer Institute - HTML NCI Cancer Bulletin = for March 7, 2006

Featured=20 Article
IL-12=20 Shows Promise for the Treatment of AIDS-Related = Kaposi's=20 Sarcoma

Director's=20 Update
Strategic=20 Plan Focuses Research Efforts

Spotlight
Delivering=20 Drugs to the Liver When Colon Cancer Spreads =

Cancer Research=20 Highlights
Rare=20 Form of Cervical Cancer Also Linked to HPV=20 Infection

A=20 New Animal Model for Tumor Angiogenesis

Study=20 Links Meat Consumption to Gastric Cancer

FDA=20 Approves Erbitux for Head and Neck Cancer

A=20 Conversation With
Dr.=20 John Niederhuber

Funding=20 Opportunities

Featured=20 Clinical Trial
Treatment=20 for Metastatic Ocular Melanoma

Notes
Dr.=20 Robert W. Miller Dies at 84

NIH=20 Budget Hearings Slated for March

NCI=20 Director Shares Personal Cancer Story

Advocacy=20 Teleconference Set for March 16

CCR=20 Grand Rounds

Community=20 Update
Re-COMMIT=20 to Comprehensive Tobacco Control Policies and = Programs, Study=20 Suggests

Bulletin=20 Archive

Page=20 Options

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View=20 Entire = Document

E-Mail=20 This = Document

View/Print=20 PDF

Rare Form = of=20 Cervical Cancer Also Linked to HPV Infection=20

Infection with human papillomavirus (HPV) was found = to be=20 the key risk factor for cervical adenocarcinoma (AC), = a type=20 of cervical cancer less common than squamous cell = carcinomas=20 (SCC), in an analysis of eight case control studies = from=20 Africa, South America, and Southeast Asia published in = the=20 March 1 Journal of the National Cancer = Institute=20 (JNCI).=20

Approximately 70 percent of the cases of SCC are=20 attributable to infection with HPV 16 or 18. Results = from the=20 study by researchers led by Dr. Xavier = Castellsagu=C3=A9 of the=20 Institut Catal=C3=A0 d'Oncologia in Barcelona have now = demonstrated=20 that approximately 85 percent of AC cervical cancer = can be=20 explained by infection with these two types of HPV. AC = accounts for about 20 percent of cervical cancers = diagnosed in=20 the United States.=20

In an editorial, Drs. Allan Hildesheim of NCI's = Division of=20 Cancer Epidemiology and Genetics and Amy Berrington de = Gonz=C3=A1lez of Johns Hopkins University, concur with = the=20 researchers in noting the implications of the findings = in=20 light of the recent successes in clinical trials of = vaccines=20 against the two HPV strains. This suggests that "it = would not=20 be unrealistic to expect rates of AC to drop in future = years,=20 as screening continues to be improved, HPV testing is=20 incorporated into (or in some instances replaces) Pap = smear=20 screening programs, and prophylactic HPV 16/18 = vaccines become=20 available for broad use," they note.=20

A New = Animal Model=20 for Tumor Angiogenesis=20

The angiogenic switch, which enables tumor cells to = recruit=20 their own vascular system and grow beyond 1 to 2 = millimeters,=20 is a key requirement for cancer metastasis. A new = study led by=20 investigators from Harvard Medical School published in = the=20 March 1 JNCI has produced cell lines from a = mouse=20 model of spontaneous angiogenesis in tumor xenografts = that can=20 be used for in-depth studies of the angiogenic = process.=20

The investigators injected mice with nonangiogenic = human=20 breast cancer, osteosarcoma, or glioblastoma cells. = When=20 xenograft implants spontaneously became angiogenic, = the cells=20 were harvested and cultured into new cell lines. These = new=20 cell lines formed palpable tumors within 20 days of = injection=20 compared with means of 119, 238, and 226 days for the = three=20 nonangiogenic cell lines. No significant differences = in cell=20 proliferation rates had been noted between the = nonangiogenic=20 and angiogenic cell lines in vitro.=20

They then used this model to analyze the possible = role of=20 several proteins in the angiogenic switch, including=20 thrombospondin-1, a known angiogenesis inhibitor. The=20 investigators found that nonangiogenic cells in all = three=20 cancer types secreted significantly higher levels of=20 thrombospondin-1 than did their angiogenic = counterparts.=20

"We are learning more and more about these = angiogenic=20 factors," says Dr. Giovanna Tosato, an investigator = with NCI's=20 Center for Cancer Research (CCR) who authored an = accompanying=20 editorial. "There are drugs already approved that = inhibit=20 angiogenesis, and there are many more on the horizon. = So we=20 may be able to turn or change tumors that have = switched and=20 have become 'bad' into others that may 'stay still' = for a long=20 time."=20

Study = Links Meat=20 Consumption to Gastric Cancer=20

A new analysis of participants in a large European = cohort=20 study shows a significant association between a type = of=20 gastric cancer and meat consumption, but primarily in = men and=20 women infected with the bacteria H. pylori.=20

The study, published in the March 1 JNCI, = involved=20 more than 521,000 men and women in the European = Prospective=20 Investigation into Cancer and Nutrition (EPIC) cohort. = With a=20 mean follow-up of 6.5 years, there were 330 cases of = gastric=20 adenocarcinoma and 65 cases of esophageal = adenocarcinoma.=20

The researchers reported a statistically = significant=20 positive association between total meat intake - which = includes fresh red meat, processed red meat, and = poultry - and=20 cancer in the lower portion of the stomach, called = gastric=20 noncardia cancer. Every 150-gram increase in total = meat intake=20 showed a 2.5-fold increase in risk. A statistically=20 significant positive association was also seen with = red meat=20 intake and processed meat intake.=20

"All of these associations seemed to be restricted = to the=20 H. pylori-infected subjects," the = researchers, led by=20 Dr. Carlos A. Gonzalez from the Catalan Institute of = Oncology=20 in Barcelona, Spain, wrote. There was no such = association seen=20 for gastric cardia cancer, which occurs in the top 2 = to 3=20 centimeters of the stomach. There also was a = nonstatistically=20 significant association between total meat intake or = processed=20 red meat intake and esophageal adenocarcinoma, the = cancer with=20 the most quickly increasing incidence rate in the = United=20 States.=20

H. pylori infection is considered a risk = factor=20 for gastric cancer. But the authors argued that = "other,=20 unknown factors must play a role in [gastric] cancer = risk=20 because, although the intake of red meat has increased = in most=20 European countries during the last decades, the = prevalence of=20 H. pylori infection and the incidence of = gastric=20 noncardia cancer have decreased over the same period." =

FDA = Approves Erbitux=20 for Head and Neck Cancer=20

On March 1, the Food and Drug Administration (FDA)=20 announced the approval of Erbitux (cetuximab) for use = in=20 combination with radiation therapy to treat patients = with=20 unresectable squamous cell cancer of the head and = neck.=20 Cetuximab is the first drug approved for this cancer = that has=20 shown a survival benefit in this population. Cetuximab = was=20 also approved for use alone to treat patients whose = head and=20 neck cancer has spread despite the use of standard=20 chemotherapy.=20

Cetuximab received a priority review and is the = first drug=20 approved to treat head and neck cancer since = methotrexate=20 became available in the 1950s. Approval of the drug in = combination with radiation therapy was based on a = study that=20 showed it prolonged survival by 20 months compared = with=20 treatment with radiation alone. Approval of cetuximab=20 monotherapy was based on evidence of tumor shrinkage = in 13=20 percent of patients, lasting an average of 6 months.=20

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