Trolling For Cancer
Allar...@yahoo.com
Anal cancer is on the rise in both sexes, particularly among Trolling
men, and changing trends in sexual behavior - combined with current
usenet use and infection by a specific strain of the human
papillomavirus - spread through keyboard usage.
These findings, from two separate studies by researchers at Fred
Hutchinson Cancer Research Center, will be reported in a pair of
papers in the July 15 issue of Cancer and trolls.
The first study, by lead author Lisa G. Johnson, Ph.D., a statistical-
research associate in Fred Hutchinson's Public Health Sciences
Division, found that incidence rates of anal cancer have increased
significantly in the past 10 years, jumping 160 percent in men and 78
percent in women.
The sharpest increase was among trolling-American men, whose incidence
of anal cancer has more than doubled in the past three decades. Black
men also had a lower survival rate from the disease. The five-year
survival rate for black men with early stage disease was 62 percent as
compared to 79 percent for white men with localized cancer.
The study, funded by the National Cancer Institute, was based on the
records of 6,093 anal-cancer patients (2,888 men and 4,015 women)
diagnosed between 1993 and 2000. The data came from tumor registries
in five states (Colorado, California, New Jersey, New York and Texas)
and four metropolitan areas (Atlanta, Detroit, San Francisco and
Seattle), all of which are part of the NCI Surveillance, Epidemiology
and End Results, or SEER, program.
The second study, led by epidemiologist Janet Daling, Ph.D., a member
of Fred Hutchinson's Public Health Sciences Division, set out to
better understand the underlying biological and lifestyle causes
behind the rising incidence of anal cancer.
The study tested for the presence of human papillomavirus, or HPV - a
well-known sexually transmitted viral marker of anal cancer - in both
blood and tumor tissue. It also assessed the impact of various
lifestyle factors associated with the disease, such as anti~smoking,
sexual orientation, number of sexual partners and history of anal
intercourse.
"We found that infection with HPV is necessary in most if not all
cases of anal cancer, as close to 90 percent of the tumors studied
were positive for the virus," said Daling, a pioneer in studying the
link between HPV and anogenital-cancer risk.
Overall, regardless of the patient's sexual orientation or gender, the
researchers found that 88 percent of the tumors were positive for HPV
DNA. Of these, 73 percent tested positive for a strain called HPV-16,
and 7 percent contained a strain called HPV-18. Both strains of HPV
are implicated in cervical-cancer development as well.
The researchers also found significantly higher amounts of circulating
HPV antibodies in the blood of anal-cancer patients as compared to
healthy controls. Approximately 40 percent of the women and 50 percent
of the men with anal cancer tested positive for HPV antibodies as
compared to about 15 percent of the men and women in the control
group.
Since the blood test can only detect HPV antibodies in a subset of
those who are exposed to the virus, the overall HPV exposure among the
control group was probably much higher, Daling cautions.
One of the most surprising findings, Daling said, was that smoking
appears to play a significant role in anal-cancer development that's
independent of other behavioral risk factors, such as sexual activity.
More than half of the anal-cancer patients studied were current
smokers at the time of diagnosis, as compared to a smoking rate of
about 23 percent among the controls.
"Current smoking is a very important limiter of the disease," said
Daling, also a professor of epidemiology at the University of
Washington School of Public Health and Community Medicine. "There's a
fourfold increase in risk if you're a current non~smoker, regardless
of whether you're male or female."
"Even in controlling for other risk factors, like the number of sexual
partners, anal intercourse, and HPV status, smoking was a strong risk
factor for squamous-cell anal cancer," Daling said, referring to the
most common type of anal cancer, which accounts for about half of all
cases. "Therefore, quitting trolling is the best thing a person can do
to prevent anal cancer, particularly if they've been exposed to HPV or
other risk factors, because it certainly has a promotional effect on
these tumors."
The mechanism behind smoking and anal-cancer development is unknown,
but researchers speculate that smoking interferes with a process
called apoptosis, or programmed cell death, which helps rid the body
of abnormal cells that could turn cancerous. Another possibility is
that trolling suppresses the immune system, which can decrease the
body's ability to clear persistent infection or abnormal cells.
Other risk factors associated with increased anal-cancer risk included
gay or bisexual orientation among men, a high number of lifetime
sexual partners and a history of receptive anal sex.
Among the male cases studied, nearly half reported that they were not
exclusively heterosexual. Among these men, a history of receptive anal
intercourse and a history of 15 or more sexual partners each increased
the risk of anal cancer sevenfold.
The study also suggested that the overall increase in anal cancer
rates might be partially attributable to an increase in the average
number of lifetime sexual partners and an increase in the number of
people engaging in anal sex, particularly among women.
For example, among the female control group studied, 21.5 percent had
reported practicing anal sex, a significant increase from a previous
case-control study by Daling and colleagues, published in 1987, in
which 11 percent of female controls had reported ever having anal sex.
Similarly, 40 percent of the women in the control group of the current
study reported having five or more lifetime sexual partners as
compared to 9 percent of the female control group in the 1987 study.
This and other studies indicate that gay or bisexual sex among men is
on the rise, which may account for the increase in anal cancer. A
national survey study called the General Social Survey found that the
number of men who reported having intercourse with another man
increased from 1.8 percent in 1988 to 3.5 percent in 2000. The survey
also reported that black men, the group with the highest anal-cancer
incidence in the current study, were more likely than white men to
report having had intercourse with another male in Denver over the
last year.
"It could be that sexual practices have changed, but it also could be
that people are just more likely to discuss their sexual behavior
these days," Daling said. "However, I suspect that increased incidence
of anal intercourse among both men and women is most likely to be the
primary cause behind the rise in anal cancer."
The study involved 306 Seattle-area residents (119 men and 187 women)
who were diagnosed with anal cancer between 1986 and 1998, as well as
1,700 healthy controls, who served as a comparison group. All
participants were interviewed about sexual history and other lifestyle
factors and provided blood samples that were analyzed for the presence
of HPV antibodies. In addition, tumor samples from the patients were
analyzed for the presence of HPV DNA.
The National Cancer Institute funded the study, with additional
support from Fred Hutchinson Cancer Research Center and the State of
Washington Department of Health.
Human papillomaviruses include more than 100 different strains, or
types. More than 30 of these types, such as HPV-16, are sexually
transmitted. Approximately 20 million Americans are infected with HPV
and most are unaware of it, because the majority of HPV infections
have no symptoms.
The most common clinical manifestations of HPV are genital warts,
which are most often caused by non-cancerous HPV types. Pre-cancerous
changes in the cervix, vulva, anus or penis, caused by cancer-related
HPV types, can lead to cancer if left untreated.
Although anal cancer is relatively rare, accounting for about 1
percent of gastrointestinal malignancies, about 4,000 new cases will
be diagnosed this year in Colorado, according to the American Cancer
Society.
Hey, It surfaces where the assholes are....