Journal of the National Cancer Institute Advance Access originally published online on June 10, 2008
JNCI Journal of the National Cancer Institute 2008 100(12):840-842; doi:10.1093/jnci/djn198
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© Oxford University Press 2008.
NEWS |
Human Papillomavirus and Oral Cancer: Looking Toward the Clinic
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Head and neck cancer researchers are considering clinical studies, including a proposed cooperative group treatment trial, that would investigate the link between human papillomavirus (HPV) and some oral cancers. Although the studies are still in the planning stage, they mark a new turn toward the clinic for an area that up to now has centered mostly on epidemiologic and laboratory studies.
Over the past decade, population studies have established an association between HPV and some tumors in the oropharynx (tonsils, soft palate, posterior pharynx, and base of tongue). Much remains unknown about the biology and natural history of oral HPV infection, but evidence of its association with these tumors is so strong that the International Agency for Research on Cancer concluded, in a monograph published in December, that there is "sufficient evidence in humans for the carcinogenicity of HPV16 in the oral cavity and oropharynx."
Now researchers are beginning to
Still Hypothetical
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