biopsies

Case Western Reserve University-led research team discovers new method to test for oral cancer

Source: thedaily.case.edu Author: staff Oral cancers and precancerous mouth lesions are considered especially difficult to diagnose early and accurately. For one, biopsies are expensive, invasive, stressful for the patient and can lead to complications. They’re also not feasible if repeated screenings of the same lesion are required. But a team of researchers, led by a clinician scientist at Case Western Reserve University School of Dental Medicine, has discovered a noninvasive, low-cost test to detect oral cancer, monitor precancerous lesions and determine when a biopsy is warranted. Their findings, published online March 4 in the journal Cell Reports Medicine are based on a scoring system linked to the levels of two proteins in cells brushed from suspicious oral lesions of patients at dental clinics or the ear, nose and throat department at University Hospitals (UH). One of the proteins (human beta defensin 3 or hBD-3) is expressed at high levels in early-stage oral cancer, while the second (hBD-2) is low or unchanged. The ratio of hBD-3 to hBD-2 in the lesion site—over the ratio of the two proteins on the opposite, normal site—generates a score, called the beta defensin index (BDI). A score above a predetermined threshold implies cancer; anything below does not. Determining the levels of the proteins and quantifying the BDI is done routinely in a lab. The BDI was independently validated using identical protocols at CWRU/UH, University of Cincinnati Medical Center and West Virginia University School of Dentistry. Aaron Weinberg “When we first discovered hBD-3, we saw it [...]

Oral Cancer Foundation News Team - A2024-03-05T12:10:27-07:00March, 2024|Oral Cancer News|

Scientists to develop pain-free device to detect oral cancer

Source: www.expresshealthcare.in Author: EH News Bureau staff £1 million in funding has been awarded to the partnership to develop a functional prototype of a new device that uses Electrical Impedance Spectroscopy (EIS) technology for the early detection of cancerous lesions In partnership with Zilico, the University of Sheffield is working to develop a pain-free, non-invasive and instantaneous method to detect oral cancer, A research collaboration has been awarded £1million in funding from SBRI Healthcare – an NHS England initiative – to test and develop a pain-free, non-invasive and instantaneous method to detect oral cancer. Once built and tested, the new device could enable doctors to detect oral cancer earlier and more accurately, reducing the need for patients to have invasive biopsies. This, in turn, could provide better outcomes for patients and significant cost savings for the NHS. The pioneering device is to be developed with medical device diagnostics company Zilico, born out of a partnership between the University of Sheffield and Sheffield Teaching Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust – using the same patented technology as its ZedScan device, which is now in use in the NHS for the early and non-invasive diagnosis of cervical cancer. Researchers from the University of Sheffield and Sheffield Teaching Hospitals previously demonstrated that the principle of its electrical impedance spectroscopy (EIS) technology, where normal, precancerous and cancerous tissue can be differentiated according to its electrical properties could be useful for detecting oral cancer. The ‘proof of concept’ study involved 47 patients who were recruited from the [...]

Oral Cancer Foundation News Team - A2020-06-17T08:18:21-07:00June, 2020|Oral Cancer News|

DNA shed from head and neck tumors detected in blood and saliva

Source: www.medicalexpress.comAuthor: Wang et al., Science Translational Medicine (2015) Schematic showing the shedding of tumor DNA from head and neck cancers into the saliva or plasma. Tumors from various anatomic locations shed DNA fragments containing tumor-specific mutations and human papillomavirus DNA into the saliva or the circulation. The detectability of tumor DNA in the saliva varied with anatomic location of the tumor, with the highest sensitivity for oral cavity cancers. The detectability in plasma varied much less in regard to the tumor’s anatomic location. Credit: Wang et al., Science Translational Medicine (2015) On the hunt for better cancer screening tests, Johns Hopkins scientists led a proof of principle study that successfully identified tumor DNA shed into the blood and saliva of 93 patients with head and neck cancer. A report on the findings is published in the June 24 issue of Science Translational Medicine. "We have shown that tumor DNA in the blood or saliva can successfully be measured for these cancers," says Nishant Agrawal, M.D., associate professor of otolaryngology—head and neck surgery—and of oncology at the Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine. "In our study, testing saliva seemed to be the best way to detect cancers in the oral cavity, and blood tests appeared to find more cancers in the larynx, hypopharynx and oropharynx. However, combining blood and saliva tests may offer the best chance of finding cancer in any of those regions." Agrawal explains that inborn genetic predispositions for most head and neck cancers are rare, but [...]

Oral Cancer Foundation News Team - A2015-06-25T16:43:35-07:00June, 2015|Oral Cancer News|

Gwynn’s death sparks dip debate

Source: www.trentonian.com Author: Nick Peruffo The death of San Diego Padres icon Tony Gwynn due to oral cancer Monday resonated across the baseball world — including the Trenton Thunder clubhouse. In addition to being a person tragedy for the Gwynn family, the news also put a renewed focus on the use of chewing tobacco in baseball. Officially, tobacco in any form has been banned in the minor leagues since 1993. If caught with chewing tobacco on the field, players face a $300 fine, while managers are docked $1,000. Away from the field, however, it is clear that some players continue to dip. “There are so many guys that do it,” said catcher Tyson Blaser, who does not use chewing tobacco. “It’s very common in the major leagues, and even though obviously in the minor leagues you are not supposed to do it, some people don’t adhere to that. To see an icon like (Gwynn) lose his battle with cancer because of a habit a lot of people do, I assume it’d be eye opening to some people.” Gwynn, who was just 54, blamed his cancer on dipping tobacco. Despite that, manager Tony Franklin conceded that while the coaching staff does its best to dissuade players from using, what they do on their own time is ultimately their own decision. “We encourage them not to do it, but they are adults with choices to make,” Franklin said. “The choices they make could be very beneficial and save their lives, so we [...]

Oral Cancer Foundation News Team - A2014-06-20T06:39:19-07:00June, 2014|Oral Cancer News|

Beaumont Researchers: biomarkers predict effectiveness of radiation treatments for head and neck cancer

Source: www.healthcanal.com Author: staff An international team of researchers, led by Beaumont Health System’s Jan Akervall, M.D., Ph.D., looked at biomarkers to determine the effectiveness of radiation treatments for patients with squamous cell cancer of the head and neck. They identified two markers that were good at predicting a patient’s resistance to radiation therapy. Their findings were published in the February issue of the European Journal of Cancer. Explains Dr. Akervall, co-director, Head and Neck Cancer Multidisciplinary Clinic, Beaumont Hospital, Royal Oak, and clinical director of Beaumont’s BioBank, “Radiation therapy is a common treatment for people with squamous cell cancer of the head and neck. However, it’s not always well-tolerated. It can take two months, resulting in lots of side effects. Some of these complications are permanent. Before my patient goes down that path, I really want to know if their tumors are going to respond to radiation. That’s where the patient’s biomarkers can shed some light. If not, we can look at other treatment options - saving time, possible risk for complications and expense.” A biomarker is a gene or a set of genes or its products, RNA and proteins, that researchers use to predict a key clinical issue such as diagnosis, prognosis, and response to treatment, choice of treatment or recurrence. Biomarker studies can provide a bridge between emerging molecular information and clinical treatment. Biomarkers may also lead to personalized treatment, in contrast to protocol-based medicine of today. “Personalized treatment decisions based on biomarkers go beyond traditional cancer [...]

Oral Cancer Foundation News Team - A2014-03-30T10:18:00-07:00March, 2014|Oral Cancer News|

Medicated patch shows promise in oral cancer prevention

Source: www.healthnewsdigest.com Author: press release Researchers at The Ohio State University Comprehensive Cancer Center have developed a medicated oral patch that allows a chemoprevention drug to release directly into precancerous lesions in the mouth over an extended time. The study evaluated the drug fenretinide, a synthetic derivative of vitamin A that has highly promising anti-cancer properties. Until now, scientists have failed to achieve a therapeutic, systemic dose of fenretinide because of drug toxicity and rapid release from the body. By using a new mucoadhesive patch invented by a team from Ohio State’s Comprehensive Cancer Center – Arthur G. James Cancer Hospital and Richard J. Solove Research Institute (OSUCCC-James) and the University of Michigan, the researchers developed a delivery system that can provide continuous drug therapy to saliva-coated oral tissue. “The challenge with oral gels or rinses is the medication can dissolve in saliva before it penetrates into the tissue. This patch allows us to target and control drug delivery and tissue exposure,” says Dr. Susan Mallery, an oral pathologist at Ohio State’s Comprehensive Cancer Center. The patch consists of three layers: a disk saturated with fenretinide and polymers to make the drug more soluble in saliva, an adhesive ring to hold the disk in place, and a backing layer to ensure the medication stays within the patch. In their study recently published online by the journal Pharmaceutical Research, Mallery and co-investigator, Dr. Peter Larsen of Ohio State, tested the fenretinide patch using simulated saliva as well as lab animals. In [...]

Oral Cancer Foundation News Team - A2011-09-02T19:03:27-07:00September, 2011|Oral Cancer News|

Neoprobe enrolling patients in head and neck cancer trial

Source: www.medcitynews.com Author: Brandon Glenn Cancer diagnostics company Neoprobe is continuing to enroll patients in a phase 3 head and neck cancer clinical trial of its radiopharmaceutical Lymphoseek. The trial is aimed at expanding Lymphoseek’s label to cover procedures known as sentinel lymph node biopsies, CEO Mark Pykett said in a conference call with investors. The sentinel lymph node is the first lymph node to which cancer is likely to spread from the primary tumor, according to the National Cancer Institute. Neoprobe on Wednesday announced that it had filed a New Drug Application for Lymphoseek, but that filing sought labeling for a different clinical indication: intraoperative lymphatic mapping, which is a surgical oncology procedure in which lymph nodes draining the area around a tumor are identified to determine if cancer has spread to the lymph nodes. That procedure is typically used for patients with breast cancer or melanoma. Neoprobe’s head and neck cancer clinical trial is expected to enroll 200 patients. The study’s estimated completion date is March 2013, according to information the company has filed with the National Institutes of Health. In addition to expanding Lymphoseek’s label, Neoprobe is looking to strike deals with potential European and Asian distribution, and sales and marketing partners for the drug. Cardinal Health is handling U.S. distribution and sales and marketing of Lymphoseek. Lymphoseek has not been approved for sales anywhere in the world, but could obtain approval in the U.S. by the middle of next year. Here’s how Pykett laid out his [...]

Oral Cancer Foundation News Team - A2011-08-11T12:49:35-07:00August, 2011|Oral Cancer News|

Detection of squamous cell carcinoma and corresponding biomarkers using optical spectroscopy

Source: oto.sagepub.com Author: H. Wolfgang Beumer, MD et al. Objectives: Investigate the use of optical reflectance spectroscopy to differentiate malignant and nonmalignant tissues in head and neck lesions and characterize corresponding oxygen tissue biomarkers that are associated with pathologic diagnosis. Study Design: Cross-sectional study. Setting: Tertiary Veterans Administration Medical Center. Subjects and Methods: All patients undergoing panendoscopy with biopsy for suspected head and neck cancer were eligible. Prior to taking tissue samples, the optical probe was placed at 3 locations to collect diffuse reflectance data. These locations were labeled “tumor,” “immediately adjacent,” and “distant normal tissue.” Biopsies were taken of each of these respective sites. The diffuse reflectance spectra were analyzed, and biomarker-specific absorption data were extracted using an inverse Monte Carlo algorithm for malignant and nonmalignant tissues. Histopathological analysis was performed and used as the gold standard to analyze the optical biomarker data. Results: Twenty-one patients with mucosal squamous cell carcinoma of the head and neck were identified and selected to participate in the study. Statistically significant differences in oxygen saturation (P = .001) and oxygenated hemoglobin (P = .019) were identified between malignant and nonmalignant tissues. Conclusion: This study established proof of principle that optical spectroscopy can be used in the head and neck areas to detect malignant tissue. Furthermore, tissue biomarkers were correlated with a diagnosis of malignancy. Authors: 1. H. Wolfgang Beumer, MD1 2. Karthik Vishwanath, PhD2 3. Liana Puscas, MD1,3 4. Hamid R. Afshari, DDS5 5. Nimmi Ramanujam, PhD2 6. Walter T. Lee, MD1,3 Authors' [...]

Oral Cancer Foundation News Team - A2011-01-29T11:07:44-07:00January, 2011|Oral Cancer News|

J&J helps develop blood test to spot 1 cancer cell in a billion healthy ones

Source: www.therapeuticsdaily.com Author: staff A blood test so sensitive that it can spot a single cancer cell lurking among a billion healthy ones is moving one step closer to being available at your doctor's office. Boston scientists who invented the test and health care giant Johnson & Johnson will announce Monday that they are joining forces to bring it to market. Four big cancer centres also will start studies using the experimental test this year. Stray cancer cells in the blood mean that a tumour has spread or is likely to, many doctors believe. A test that can capture such cells has the potential to transform care for many types of cancer, especially breast, prostate, colon and lung. Initially, doctors want to use the test to try to predict what treatments would be best for each patient's tumour and find out quickly if they are working. ``This is like a liquid biopsy'' that avoids painful tissue sampling and may give a better way to monitor patients than periodic imaging scans, said Dr. Daniel Haber, chief of Massachusetts General Hospital's cancer centre and one of the test's inventors. Ultimately, the test may offer a way to screen for cancer besides the mammograms, colonoscopies and other less-than-ideal methods used now. ``There's a lot of potential here, and that's why there's a lot of excitement,'' said Dr. Mark Kris, lung cancer chief at Memorial Sloan-Kettering Cancer Center in New York. He had no role in developing the test, but Sloan-Kettering is one of [...]

Oral Cancer Foundation News Team - A2011-01-04T09:56:14-07:00January, 2011|Oral Cancer News|

Nano-bio-chip checks for oral cancer

Source: www.nanotech-now.com Author: press release The gentle touch of a brush on the tongue or cheek can help detect oral cancer with success rates comparable to more invasive techniques like biopsies, according to preliminary studies by researchers at Rice University, the University of Texas Health Science Centers at Houston and San Antonio and the University of Texas M.D. Anderson Cancer Center. A new test that uses Rice's diagnostic nano-bio-chip was found to be 97 percent "sensitive" and 93 percent specific in detecting which patients had malignant or premalignant lesions, results that compared well with traditional tests. The results of this study, which was led by John McDevitt, were published in the journal Cancer Prevention Research. Oral cancer afflicts more than 300,000 people a year, including 35,000 in the United States alone. The five-year survival rate is 60 percent, but if oral cancer is detected early, that rate rises to 90 percent. "One of the key discoveries in this paper is to show that the miniaturized, noninvasive approach produces about the same result as the pathologists do," said Dr. McDevitt, whose group developed the novel nano-bio-chip technology. Dr. McDevitt and his team are working to create an inexpensive chip that can differentiate premalignant lesions from the 95 percent of lesions that will not become cancerous. The minimally invasive technique would deliver results in 15 minutes instead of several days, as lab-based diagnostics do now. Instead of an invasive, painful biopsy, the new procedure requires just a light brush of the lesion [...]

Oral Cancer Foundation News Team - A2010-05-23T16:01:08-07:00May, 2010|Oral Cancer News|