HPV study interesting article

micktissue
micktissue Member Posts: 430
edited March 2014 in Head and Neck Cancer #1
My niece sent me this link to an article about HPV and oropharyngeal cancer. Excerpt:

"Cancer-causing HPV strains have been implicated in half of oropharyngeal cancers, and 90% of HPV-related cases have been pinpointed to HPV-16 in studies"

http://www.medpagetoday.com/InfectiousDisease/STDs/6508

Best,

Mick

Comments

  • Hondo
    Hondo Member Posts: 6,636 Member
    #2
    Hi Mick
    Good report thanks for sharing
  • D Lewis
    D Lewis Member Posts: 1,581 Member
    #3
    Thanks, Mick
    Interesting stuff! There are additional HPV articles cited in earlier threads on this forum.

    Deb
  • Kimba1505
    Kimba1505 Member Posts: 557
    #4
    D Lewis said:

    Thanks, Mick
    Interesting stuff! There are additional HPV articles cited in earlier threads on this forum.

    Deb

    Thanks Mick...
    ...this article gives us a lot to think about, and shows us there is still much to learn. As a mom with two teenage boys, I would like to really get some answers and some good advice as to have them vaccinated.
    Mark, who has 4 children, and a family history of cancer will want to grapple with this information as well.
    Kim
  • RushFan
    RushFan Member Posts: 224
    #5
    D Lewis said:

    Thanks, Mick
    Interesting stuff! There are additional HPV articles cited in earlier threads on this forum.

    Deb

    More info all the time
    Thanks for the link. Seems to be more and more info all the time about HPV.

    Chuck.
  • luv4lacrosse
    luv4lacrosse Member Posts: 1,410 Member
    #6
    Kimba1505 said:

    Thanks Mick...
    ...this article gives us a lot to think about, and shows us there is still much to learn. As a mom with two teenage boys, I would like to really get some answers and some good advice as to have them vaccinated.
    Mark, who has 4 children, and a family history of cancer will want to grapple with this information as well.
    Kim

    VACCINATION
    Kim, my wife and I just discussed having our 18 yo son vaccinated before he leaves for college on Friday. Is the vaccination different from the one for teenage girls to prevent Cervical Cancer?

    Mike
  • Bigfuzzydoug
    Bigfuzzydoug Member Posts: 154
    #7
    So what now?
    What if the lab tests on my blocks come back HPV-16 positive? Is there an anti-viral drug to take to combat the virus so that a cancer doesn't come back? What about my wife? She already goes for annual pap smears. Does she need to do something more? If she's negative, Gardasil for her? I also wonder about my tonsils (which are still in). I've read that almost all HPV-16-related cancers are oropharyngeal - tonsils, tongue or mouth. Almost none are laryngeal - larynx, voicebox like mine. I have to ask my doc if I need my tonsils biopsied or just outright removed.

    During the first PET, both tonsils lit up like a Christmas tree, but the docs said it was only because I was 5 days out from the layrngoscopy and on antibiotics. Now I'm not so sure because my rad treatments aren't targeting the tonsils. My rad oncologist said today that the tonsils are NOT the primary site because tonsil cancer spreads to the lymph nodes, not down to the larynx.
  • Kimba1505
    Kimba1505 Member Posts: 557
    #8
    luv4lacrosse said:

    VACCINATION
    Kim, my wife and I just discussed having our 18 yo son vaccinated before he leaves for college on Friday. Is the vaccination different from the one for teenage girls to prevent Cervical Cancer?

    Mike

    No expert.
    Hey Mike,
    I hear ya regarding sending your son off to college protected. My eldest is 16 and just embarking on that "you know what" part of adolescence.
    From what I have been reading from links provided by Deb and Mick, it sounds like it is the same vaccine. However, it sounds like it has not been FDA approved for boys and this is all new thinking. My guess is our local docs have no clue regarding this matter. When Mark goes in next week I hope to talk to his rediologist about it...but I am thinking an infectious disease/oncologist is the person to ask. I haven't met him/her yet...I am guessing that specialty exists.
    What do we tell our kids...there is NO safe sex...just don't do it...take a cold shower...yikes!!!!!
    Kim
  • Skiffin16
    Skiffin16 Member Posts: 8,305 Member
    #9
    Kimba1505 said:

    Thanks Mick...
    ...this article gives us a lot to think about, and shows us there is still much to learn. As a mom with two teenage boys, I would like to really get some answers and some good advice as to have them vaccinated.
    Mark, who has 4 children, and a family history of cancer will want to grapple with this information as well.
    Kim

    Vaccines for Boys
    Last I heard, it's kind of hard to justify that (according to the Insurance Companies), not sure of the Medical Community completely being onboard as of yet also.

    But I definitely know where you are coming from, and believe it's going to happen in the very near future. Especially with popularities becoming affected, you know it'll start being investigated more throughly.

    JG
  • Skiffin16
    Skiffin16 Member Posts: 8,305 Member
    #10
    Bigfuzzydoug said:

    So what now?
    What if the lab tests on my blocks come back HPV-16 positive? Is there an anti-viral drug to take to combat the virus so that a cancer doesn't come back? What about my wife? She already goes for annual pap smears. Does she need to do something more? If she's negative, Gardasil for her? I also wonder about my tonsils (which are still in). I've read that almost all HPV-16-related cancers are oropharyngeal - tonsils, tongue or mouth. Almost none are laryngeal - larynx, voicebox like mine. I have to ask my doc if I need my tonsils biopsied or just outright removed.

    During the first PET, both tonsils lit up like a Christmas tree, but the docs said it was only because I was 5 days out from the layrngoscopy and on antibiotics. Now I'm not so sure because my rad treatments aren't targeting the tonsils. My rad oncologist said today that the tonsils are NOT the primary site because tonsil cancer spreads to the lymph nodes, not down to the larynx.

    Interesting
    As for your questions concerning your wife's precautions, from what I have been told and read, she shouldn't be susceptible, not sure.

    And concerning your tonsils lighting up, and the MD's not being concerned, I would be concerned. My primary was my left tonsil, spreading to a lymph node on the same side. My tonsils were removed and before I started treatment, they had a PET done.

    The only areas that lit up were the lymph node and the right tonsil tissue slightly, nothing on the left tonsil.

    So with that being the case, not sure how they could say yours lighting up is a result of the laryngoscope and antibiotics. But again, I'm not a medical professional, and definitely don't make the money they do.

    Best,
    John
  • miccmill
    miccmill Member Posts: 248
    #11
    Skiffin16 said:

    Interesting
    As for your questions concerning your wife's precautions, from what I have been told and read, she shouldn't be susceptible, not sure.

    And concerning your tonsils lighting up, and the MD's not being concerned, I would be concerned. My primary was my left tonsil, spreading to a lymph node on the same side. My tonsils were removed and before I started treatment, they had a PET done.

    The only areas that lit up were the lymph node and the right tonsil tissue slightly, nothing on the left tonsil.

    So with that being the case, not sure how they could say yours lighting up is a result of the laryngoscope and antibiotics. But again, I'm not a medical professional, and definitely don't make the money they do.

    Best,
    John

    Gardasil for boys
    John, you are right. It's been cleared for use in boys and there isn't total buy-in from the Pediatric community yet. The rationale for vaccinating boys seems all realted to preventing genital warts but I know they won't get their FDA approval if seeking more than can be quantified in research.

    Link to another article:
    http://www.webmd.com/sexual-conditions/hpv-genital-warts/news/20090909/fda-panel-oks-gardasil-for-boys

    Kim, believe it or not, it will be Pediatricians who will have the most knowledge and information on HPV in boys and girls, including vaccination. Making an appointment with your 16 yr. olds Pedicatrician for a questions and answer session should get you up to date with the latest info. out there.
  • delnative
    delnative Member Posts: 450 Member
    #12
    miccmill said:

    Gardasil for boys
    John, you are right. It's been cleared for use in boys and there isn't total buy-in from the Pediatric community yet. The rationale for vaccinating boys seems all realted to preventing genital warts but I know they won't get their FDA approval if seeking more than can be quantified in research.

    Link to another article:
    http://www.webmd.com/sexual-conditions/hpv-genital-warts/news/20090909/fda-panel-oks-gardasil-for-boys

    Kim, believe it or not, it will be Pediatricians who will have the most knowledge and information on HPV in boys and girls, including vaccination. Making an appointment with your 16 yr. olds Pedicatrician for a questions and answer session should get you up to date with the latest info. out there.

    Hey, Bigfuzzydoug
    You wrote: "What about my wife? She already goes for annual pap smears. Does she need to do something more? If she's negative, Gardasil for her?"
    To answer the last part of the question first, they say that Gardasil is only for people (and yes, they do give it to boys, but I think it's technically an off-label use) who have not yet become sexually active. Perhaps they will give it to an adult who's HPV-negative, but if you've been (ahem) intimate for some number of years, is it really necessary?
    When I learned my tumor was HPV-16 positive, my first concern was for my wife. Had I passed this on to her? And, more awkwardly, had she passed it on to me?
    My ENT, who's been involved in HPV research at Johns Hopkins, told me that I probably picked up the virus 20, even 30 years ago -- back before we were married and were playing the field. It just took that long for the cancer to develop.
    While we were staying in Baltimore for my treatment, my wife was tested for HPV. She tested negative. Go figure.
    It really doesn't matter who passed it on to whom, and thank God that issue didn't affect our relationship in the least. All I cared about was that she wasn't going to have to worry about getting this damnable disease, either in the throat or in the cervix.
    I can't make any recommendations on Gardasil, because we have no kids and I haven't researched it. But if there were a guarantee -- even a reasonable chance -- that the vaccine would keep my kid(s) from having to go through what I've gone through, you can bet I'd be hauling them down to the doctor's office.

    --Jim in Delaware
  • jkinobay
    jkinobay Member Posts: 298 Member
    #13
    delnative said:

    Hey, Bigfuzzydoug
    You wrote: "What about my wife? She already goes for annual pap smears. Does she need to do something more? If she's negative, Gardasil for her?"
    To answer the last part of the question first, they say that Gardasil is only for people (and yes, they do give it to boys, but I think it's technically an off-label use) who have not yet become sexually active. Perhaps they will give it to an adult who's HPV-negative, but if you've been (ahem) intimate for some number of years, is it really necessary?
    When I learned my tumor was HPV-16 positive, my first concern was for my wife. Had I passed this on to her? And, more awkwardly, had she passed it on to me?
    My ENT, who's been involved in HPV research at Johns Hopkins, told me that I probably picked up the virus 20, even 30 years ago -- back before we were married and were playing the field. It just took that long for the cancer to develop.
    While we were staying in Baltimore for my treatment, my wife was tested for HPV. She tested negative. Go figure.
    It really doesn't matter who passed it on to whom, and thank God that issue didn't affect our relationship in the least. All I cared about was that she wasn't going to have to worry about getting this damnable disease, either in the throat or in the cervix.
    I can't make any recommendations on Gardasil, because we have no kids and I haven't researched it. But if there were a guarantee -- even a reasonable chance -- that the vaccine would keep my kid(s) from having to go through what I've gone through, you can bet I'd be hauling them down to the doctor's office.

    --Jim in Delaware

    A thought on Gardasil
    It is my understanding that if one partner is already positive for HPV 16 or one of the other "high-risk" HPV's, then the vaccination does not eliminate for either partner. It only prevents. In other words, if you already are HPV positive the vaccination will not eliminate it.

    That's my understanding, subject to a med pro's opinion of course.

    In my case, my SCC showed up in a lymph node, tested positive for HPV 16, MD Anderson advised to check my tonsil, sure enough it was malignant too and was the primary. That was a little over 3 yr. ago and I am proud to say I am still alive and kickin.

    Best of luck................stay well. JK
  • zinniemay
    zinniemay Member Posts: 522
    #14
    Help
    Ok at the doctor today Greg had Chemo.This is his forth round of Carbosplatin of 8 treatments , he will have 8 total.
    While there, the last time I asked the doctor what Greg had , she said T4N1Mo Larynx Squamous Cell Cancer , That it Metastic to both Lungs.
    This time I asked her is the Esophageal cancer she said not it was head a neck.
    So what board should I post to for help?
    Greg had no surgery because his tumor was T4 Ni MO , he does not have a J-tube nor a pic line . He lost his voice but after the treatment his voice came back. They did 7 weeks of Radation and Chemo (Cisplatin ) March to May 2009, May 2010 the cancer spread to his lungs so we are doing treatment for that. I do understand that since it was Larynx cancer that it is still Larynx cancer but Mets to the Lungs(Both).
    I am confused do I post to the Esophageal page or Head and Neck?
    Greg is also in the test study group for the buccal swab study, I believe they said it was testing for the H.P.V. they also took a extra 6 viles of blood from him! He has said yes to any studies.
    One doctor's though while only a though is that this virus was passed from his mother who had Ovarian cancer. She died when Greg was nine. So not to sure about that. That part sounded strange to me.
    Anyway I am as I said not sure where to post , So posted to Esophageal board too.

    Jennie

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