cytokines

Botanical drug is shown to help patients with head and neck cancers

Source: newsroom.ucla.edu Author: Duane Bates, UCLA Research Brief Findings In a UCLA-led phase I clinical trial, a new plant-based drug called APG-157 showed signs of helping patients fight oral and oropharyngeal cancers. These cancers are located in the head and the neck. APG-157 is made up of multiple compounds produced by plants, including curcumin. UCLA Jonsson Comprehensive Cancer Center researchers found that treatment with this botanical drug resulted in high concentrations of curcumin and its byproducts circulating in the blood and absorbed by tumor tissues within three hours after being taken orally. APG-157 reduced the concentration of cytokines — proteins involved in inflammation — in the saliva when administered to cancer patients. The therapy also reduced the relative abundance of Bacteroides species, a group of gram-negative bacteria. Gram negative refers to a group of dangerous bacteria that have an outer layer which hides them from the immune system. The relative abundance of gram-negative bacteria compared to the presence of other types of bacteria is correlated with oral cancer. APG-157 also resulted in the expression of genes that are associated with attracting immune system T cells to the tumor area. This therapy could have a beneficial effect when used in combination with immunotherapy drugs that help immune system T cells recognize and kill tumors. The treatment did not have any adverse effects on the study’s participants. Background Cancers of the head and neck account for 4% of all cancers. About 650,000 new cases are reported each year around the world. People [...]

Oral Cancer Foundation News Team - A2020-02-06T08:55:08-07:00February, 2020|Oral Cancer News|

Researchers evaluate efficacy of salivary biomarkers for early detection of oral cancer

Source: www.news-medical.net Author: staff, reviewed by Kate Anderton, B.Sc. Over 90% of malign tumors in the head and neck are originated from carcinomas of squamous cells that appear in superficial areas of the oral cavity. Their detection with salivary biomarkers can contribute to their early treatment, before they transform into tumors. Researchers of the Oral Microbiology Research Group of the CEU Cardenal Herrera University (CEU UCH) in Valencia, Spain, have conducted a systematic review and a meta-analysis of the salivary markers that show the highest efficacy for the early detection of oral cancer in different clinical trials. The results have just been published in the Journal of Oral Pathology and Medicine, the official magazine of the International Association of Oral Pathogens in the field of Dentistry, Oral Surgery and Medicine. According to Verónica Veses, head researcher of the Group and professor at the Biomedical Sciences Department of the CEU UCH, "detection of this type of squamous cell cancer in the surface of the mouth essentially depends of the visual examination on behalf of oral health professionals. This is why it is important to find new diagnostic methods to help with accurate early detection. Specially if we take into account that oral cancer is the most common of the tumors in the head and neck, and which is increasingly prevalent among the young population due to the consumption of tobacco and alcohol". Three types of biomarkers The research team headed by Dr. Veses has conducted a systematic review and a meta-analysis [...]

Oral Cancer Foundation News Team - A2018-11-15T07:30:36-07:00November, 2018|Oral Cancer News|

FDA Grant Forwards Listeria-Based Throat Cancer Vaccine

Source: www.targetedonc.comAuthor: Sandra Kear An experimental immunotherapy for human papillomavirus-, or HPV-, related throat cancers, which is driven by the Listeria bacteria (that wreaks havoc when ingested), may now move forward due to a $1.1 million dollar grant from the FDA to researchers at Baylor College of Medicine. “Immunotherapy, such as axalimogene filolisbac, which targets HPV proteins expressed in cancer cells is a great example of using a cancer’s own unique biology against it.” said principal investigator Andrew Sikora, MD, PhD, leader of the head and neck cancer program in the NCI Comprehensive Designated Dan L. Duncan Cancer Center and an associate professor of otolaryngology at Baylor College, in an interview with Targeted Oncology. "This is hopefully the first step toward development of more targeted treatment approaches that reduce side effects and cancer treatment-related morbidity by uniquely targeting only virus-infected cells.”  The Listeria-based HPV immunotherapy, axalimogene filolisbac (ADXS11-001), is developed by Advaxis, and functions by stimulating an immune response against HPV proteins, thus killing infected cells. The drug is currently being evaluated in phase I-II study3 alone or in combination with MedImmune’s durvalumab, in patients with cervical or HPV-positive head and neck cancer. The study has three arms: axalimogene filolisbac alone, durvalumab alone, and the two drugs combined. Primary outcomes established for the study are: number of subjects with adverse events (AEs) in each dose level, number of subjects with AEs in the combination dose, and progression-free survival. Patients must have measurable disease by RECIST criteria, as well [...]

Charlotte Parker2015-09-17T09:22:55-07:00September, 2015|Oral Cancer News|

University of Michigan scientists are at the forefront of cancer stem cell research

Source: www.annarbor.com Author: Betsy de Parry Nine years ago, I walked into the University of Michigan Comprehensive Cancer Center for the first time and walked out as a terrified cancer patient. During all the months that I was in treatment, I never saw the labs or gave a thought to the research that was being conducted in them. And then, when standard treatment failed to stop my cancer, I was rescued by a new therapy that was pioneered at U-M by Dr. Mark Kaminski, and I began to appreciate those labs we patients never see and the discoveries that are made in them. Discoveries, after all, save lives. Indeed, labs are hotbeds of discovery. And the labs at Michigan are turning out stem cell research that is revolutionizing the way many cancers are treated. I know — stem cells are two words that stir passion and debate, but there are stem cells... and there are stem cells. What distinguishes them from other cells is their ability to divide and make exact copies of themselves indefinitely, a process called self-renewal, and their ability to change, or differentiate, into other types of cells. Embryonic stem cells — the controversial ones — have unlimited potential to become any type of cell. Adult stem cells — with which we're born — are more restricted than embryonic stem cells in terms of what they can become, but they can still differentiate. For example, adult stem cells in our bone marrow, known as hematopoietic cells, constantly [...]

Oral Cancer Foundation News Team - A2011-05-07T05:34:43-07:00May, 2011|Oral Cancer News|

SciClone identifies unique genetic markers associated with patient response to SCV-07 treatment in oral mucositis

Source: www.marketwatch.com Author: press release SciClone Pharmaceuticals, Inc. today announced that researchers have identified two unique gene clusters that differentiated subjects who responded to treatment in the Company's phase 2a proof of concept study of SCV-07 for the prevention of severe oral mucositis (OM; WHO grades 3-4) in patients with advanced head and neck cancer. The Company believes that the discovery of these gene clusters may assist in providing the framework for effectively identifying those patients most likely to respond to SCV-07 in future clinical trials based on their individual genomic profile or gene signature. These findings were presented today in a poster presentation at the 4th American Association for Cancer Research (AACR) International Conference on Molecular Diagnostics in Cancer Therapeutic Development. As part of the Company's recently completed phase 2a OM study, researchers collected and analyzed RNA samples from patients prior to and at the completion of the trial's treatment phase. Results from this gene expression analysis demonstrated the strong association of two specific gene clusters with patient response to SCV-07. Consistent with SCV-07's activity as a modulator of the immune system, these clusters included genes associated with G-protein coupled receptors, signal transducers, glycoproteins and membrane proteins. "The identification of these specific genetic markers represents an exciting and potentially powerful development in the clinical advancement of SCV-07 for the treatment of oral mucositis," said Dr. Stephen T. Sonis, speaking in his role as Chief Medical Officer of Biomodels, LLC. Dr. Sonis is also a Clinical Professor of Oral Medicine [...]

Oral Cancer Foundation News Team - A2010-09-30T12:56:10-07:00September, 2010|Oral Cancer News|

Implant-based cancer vaccine is first to eliminate tumors in mice

Source: news.biocompare.com Authors: David J. Mooney et al. A cancer vaccine carried into the body on a carefully engineered, fingernail-sized implant is the first to successfully eliminate tumors in mammals, scientists report this week in the journal Science Translational Medicine. The new approach, pioneered by bioengineers and immunologists at Harvard University, uses plastic disks impregnated with tumor-specific antigens and implanted under the skin to reprogram the mammalian immune system to attack tumors. The new paper describes the use of such implants to eradicate melanoma tumors in mice. "This work shows the power of applying engineering approaches to immunology," says David J. Mooney, the Robert P. Pinkas Family Professor of Bioengineering in Harvard's School of Engineering and Applied Sciences and Wyss Institute for Biologically Inspired Engineering. "By marrying engineering and immunology through this collaboration with Glenn Dranoff at the Dana-Farber Cancer Institute, we've taken a major step toward the design of effective cancer vaccines." Most cancer cells easily skirt the immune system, which operates by recognizing and attacking invaders from outside the body. The approach developed by Mooney's group redirects the immune system to target tumors, and appears both more effective and less cumbersome than other cancer vaccines currently in clinical trials. Conventional cancer vaccinations remove immune cells from the body, reprogram them to attack malignant tissues, and return them to the body. However, more than 90 percent of reinjected cells have died before having any effect in experiments. The slender implants developed by Mooney's group are 8.5 millimeters in diameter [...]

Oral Cancer Foundation News Team - A2009-12-01T15:36:50-07:00December, 2009|Oral Cancer News|

Charting the path from infection to cancer

Source: www.cancer.gov/ncicancerbulletin Author: Eleanor Mayfield Few people associate infection with cancer, but close to one-fifth of all cancers in the world are caused by infectious agents, including viruses, bacteria, and other microbes. In developing countries, the number is higher—about one in four—while in industrialized countries, such as the United States, it is about one in 12. Infectious agents that can cause cancer are extremely common, infecting millions of people around the world. Yet it is rare and takes a long time for an infection to develop into cancer. “You need a lot of things to happen, or not happen, to get from an infection to cancer,” said Dr. Douglas R. Lowy, chief of NCI’s Laboratory of Cellular Oncology and a leader in the molecular biology of tumor viruses. The microbes responsible for most of the global burden of infection-associated cancer are: the bacterium Helicobacter pylori, which causes gastric cancer; cancer-causing strains of the human papillomavirus (HPV), which cause cervical cancer and other cancers; and the hepatitis B and C viruses, which cause liver cancer. These four microbes alone cause more than 15 percent of all cancers worldwide. Other cancers known to be associated with infectious agents include leukemia and lymphoma; anal, penile, vaginal, and vulvar cancer; and tongue and throat cancers. Last week, researchers reported new evidence linking aggressive prostate tumors to a virus. Role of the Immune System Microbes can lead to cancer by a variety of mechanisms that are not yet fully understood, explained Dr. Allan Hildesheim, chief [...]

Oral Cancer Foundation News Team - A2009-09-23T08:59:07-07:00September, 2009|Oral Cancer News|