New Research Shows a Link between HPV and the Rare Nasopharyngeal Cancer
A recent research funded by grants from National Institutes of Health, National Cancer Institute, U-M Head and Neck Cancer SPORE and a loan to the SensiGen LLC offered by the state of Michigan, was concerned with the increasing negative effects of the human papillomavirus. This study was aided by the fact that the department of Office of Technology Transfer from the University of Michigan granted exclusive licensing of the human papillomavirus detection to the Sequenom which is the mother-company of SensiGen LLC.
The team of scientists and authors concerned with this study comprise: Jessica Maxwell, Bhavna Kumar, Felix Feng, Jonathan McHugh, Kitrina Cordell, Avraham Eisbruch, Francis Worden, Gregory Wolf, Mark Prince, Jeffrey Moyer, Theodoros Teknos, Douglas Chepeha, Jay Stoerker, and Heather Walline. This innovative research focused on the fact that nowadays there are more and more cases of rare types of cancer affecting the neck and the head which are in a strong relationship with the HPV (human papillomavirus). The University of Michigan Comprehensive Cancer Center hosted this study.
The researchers took a closer look at people suffering from nasopharyngeal cancer which represents a tumor that appears and develops at the back of the nose and close to the top of the throat, slightly above one`s tonsils. This type of cancer is a very rare root that affects 1 in every 100,000 American people.
Even though the nasopharyngeal cancer is a very rare disease, the study undergone at the University of Michigan Comprehensive Cancer Center was the first to link this illness to the human papillomavirus. It seems that nowadays our society is faced with an epidemic of tonsil tumors, many of the persons suffering from this disease suffering from the human papillomavirus. As one of the research authors, medical doctor and chair of the otolaryngology from the University of Michigan Medical School, Carol Bradford states it appears that the human papillomavirus represents a key element in triggering the rare type of cancer located behind the nose.
The study is released on the Internet in the Head & Neck journal. From here, we find out that the team of scientists examined samples of tissue taken from ill patients prior to nasopharyngeal or tonsil cancer treatments. It was found out that from the whole sample summing up 89 cancer suffering people, five patients suffered from this rare root of cancer and four of them also proved to be positive for the human papillomavirus. Surprisingly, these four cases of nasopharyngeal cancer suffering patients came out negative when tested for the Epstein-Barr virus. This is shocking due to the fact that this type of viral infection was considered to be the main cause for this rare type of cancer.
Another author of this study, Professor Thomas Carey stated that ever since the first researches undergone on the neck and head cancer, he often used to ponder upon the causes that triggered the nasopharyngeal cancers that tested negative for the viral infection Epstein-Barr. By conducting this recent study he found out that the continuously transforming etiology for this rare type of tumors on the population from the United States grounds are reflected in the epidemics of tonsil tumors testing positive to the human papillomavirus.
Even though there is more research to be done regarding this matter, statistics show that approximately 60% of people suffering from nasopharyngeal tumors are still alive even though five years elapsed since the therapies. Moreover, the mortality rate caused by this rare type of cancer has dropped by 4% each year. The team of scientists believes that a cause for this decline in the death rates is due to the fact that cancers linked to the human papillomavirus are better counteracted by chemo and radiations compared to the cancers related to the Epstein-Barr virus.
Due to the fact that the nasopharyngeal tumors are very rare, the scientists who conducted this complex study proposed a wider patient recruitment process spread over more clinical centers in order to get a better image of the relationship between the nasopharyngeal tumors and the human papillomavirus.
