ArticleCancer2014
Long-term use of valproic acid in US veterans is associated with a reduced risk of smoking-related cases of head and neck cancer.
Article in Cancer, 2014. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. It is linked to trial NCT02608736 (Phase 0 Clinical Trial With Valproic Acid as a Chemopreventive Agent in Patients With Head and Neck Squamous Cell Carcinoma Previously Treated), which is not on this map. Cited by 20 papers, 1 of them a synthesis that pooled it.
What it found
Each row is one number read from the abstract, on the scale the paper reported it, with its interval. Left of the dashed line favours the treatment, right favours the comparator. Under each row is the sentence it came from. New to these charts? A ten-minute tutorial.
The abstract states no effect estimate the extractor could read, or names no intervention and outcome on the map, so this paper lights no cell and moves no belief. It is still indexed, cited and linked below.
The trial behind it
Trials whose registry record cites this paper, or whose number appears in the abstract. A trial that started after this paper was published is citing it as background, not reporting it.
Phase 0 Clinical Trial With Valproic Acid as a Chemopreventive Agent in Patients With Head and Neck Squamous Cell Carcinoma Previously Treated
Who cites it
20 citing papers in PubMed, 1 synthesis or guideline pooled it, 39 citations in OpenAlex.
- Pooled it
- Evaluation of acetylation and methylation in oral rinse of patients with head and neck cancer history exposed to valproic acid.Scientific reports · 2021Trial
- Uncovering hypothesis-generating associations between prescription drugs and digestive cancer risk: a case-control drug-wide association study (DWAS).Cancer epidemiology, biomarkers & prevention : a publication of the American Association for Cancer Research, cosponsored by the American Society of Preventive Oncology · 2026Article
- Valproic acid exposure alters histone deacetylase mRNA expression profile in oral cancer and premalignant cell lines.Biomedical reports · 2025Article
- Perceptions of chemoprevention among individuals at high risk of oral cancer: qualitative study within the UK-based SAVER trial.BMJ open · 2025Article
- Effect of valproic acid on histone deacetylase expression in oral cancer (Review).Oncology letters · 2024Review
- Use of Antiepileptic Drugs and Risk of Prostate Cancer: A Nationwide Case-Control Study in Prostate Cancer Data Base Sweden.Journal of oncology · 2023Article
- Pretreatment with valproic acid alleviates pulmonary fibrosis through epithelial-mesenchymal transition inhibition in vitro and in vivo.Laboratory investigation; a journal of technical methods and pathology · 2021Article
- Review
- Article
- Article
- Epigenetic drugs: from chemistry via biology to medicine and back.Clinical epigenetics · 2016Article
- Inverse Association between Sodium Channel-Blocking Antiepileptic Drug Use and Cancer: Data Mining of Spontaneous Reporting and Claims Databases.International journal of medical sciences · 2016Article
- Sodium channel-inhibiting drugs and survival of breast, colon and prostate cancer: a population-based study.Scientific reports · 2015Article
- HDAC1 and HDAC2 independently predict mortality in hepatocellular carcinoma by a competing risk regression model in a Southeast Asian population.Oncology reports · 2015Article
- Identification of Ethanol and 4-Nitroquinoline-1-Oxide Induced Epigenetic and Oxidative Stress Markers During Oral Cavity Carcinogenesis.Alcoholism, clinical and experimental research · 2015Article
- Cellular prostatic acid phosphatase (cPAcP) serves as a useful biomarker of histone deacetylase (HDAC) inhibitors in prostate cancer cell growth suppression.Cell & bioscience · 2015Article
- Connectivity mapping using a combined gene signature from multiple colorectal cancer datasets identified candidate drugs including existing chemotherapies.BMC systems biology · 2015Article
- Could valproic acid be an effective anticancer agent? The evidence so far.Expert review of anticancer therapy · 2014Article
- Class I HDACs are mediators of smoke carcinogen-induced stabilization of DNMT1 and serve as promising targets for chemoprevention of lung cancer.Cancer prevention research (Philadelphia, Pa.) · 2014Article
Corrections and comments
PubMed lists nothing against this paper. Absence here is not a guarantee, only a check that was made.
Authors and funding
10 authors at 3 institutions in 1 country.
Funding
Abstract
backgroundEpigenetic events play a major role in the carcinogenesis of tobacco-related cancers. The authors conducted a retrospective cohort study to evaluate the effects of exposure to the anticonvulsant agent valproic acid (VPA), a histone deacetylase inhibitor, on the risk of developing cancers of the lung, head and neck, prostate, bladder, and colon.
methodsThe study was based on the 2002 through 2008 National Veterans Affairs (VA) medical SAS data set linked to the VA Central Cancer Registry. The cohort was defined as subjects aged>40 years who were followed in the VA system for at least 1 year for 1 of 4 diagnoses for which a VPA indication exists (bipolar disorder, posttraumatic stress disorder, migraines, and seizures). Multivariable Cox proportional hazards models were used to estimate hazards ratios (HR) and 95% confidence intervals (95% CI) reflecting the association between use of VPA and cancer incidence.
resultsVPA use was associated with a significant reduction in the risk of cancers of the head and neck (HR, 0.66; 95% CI, 0.48-0.92). Additional associations were noted with the duration of treatment and median VPA drug levels. No significant differences in cancer incidence were observed for cancers of the lung (HR, 1.00; 95% CI, 0.84-1.19), bladder (HR, 0.86; 95% CI, 0.64-1.15), colon (HR, 0.95; 95% CI, 0.74-1.22), and prostate (HR, 0.96; 95% CI, 0.88-1.12).
conclusionsUse of VPA is associated with a lower risk of developing head and neck cancers.
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What OpenQuestion holds
Registered trials
Read under generation 80e0d062 · epoch 390. Bibliography from PubMed, PubMed Central and OpenAlex; grants from NIH RePORTER; trial links from ClinicalTrials.gov; estimates, votes and beliefs from the OpenQuestion graph.