Published 4 August 2009, doi:10.1136/bmj.b3140
Cite this as: BMJ 2009;339:b3140

News

Sexual habits rather than smoking may predict survival from throat and mouth cancers

Bob Roehr

1 Washington, DC

The first 150 words of the full text of this article appear below.

A large cancer screening programme in the United States has changed its screening practice and treatment strategy after learning that the effectiveness of chemoradiation for oropharyngeal cancer differs depending on whether the tumour is caused by human papillomavirus (HPV) infection. The discovery may also explain the stark difference in response to treatment seen between black and white people.

The findings led the University of Maryland Cancer Center study site, in Baltimore, to immediately change its screening and treatment practices, even before publication (Cancer Prevention Research 2009 July 29, doi:10.1158/1940-6207.CAPR-09-0149).

The study retrospectively analysed biopsy specimens of tumours from a large clinical trial for the presence of HPV. It found that survival was nearly five times higher if they were HPV positive than if they were HPV negative. "This is an astounding biological effect," said the senior researcher Kevin Cullen.

Patients whose tumours were HPV negative responded similarly . . . [Full text of this article]


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