gefitinib – Oral Cancer News

A better understanding of how genetics influences responses to mouth cancer drugs could lead to improved treatment

Source: medicalxpress.com Author: provided by Agency for Science, Technology and Research (A*STAR) A single letter DNA mutation is a big determinant of whether patients with advanced oral cancer respond to treatments. Researchers from the National Cancer Centre Singapore (NCCS) and A*STAR who uncovered the mechanisms behind this effect hope their findings will help doctors target treatment more effectively. Oral squamous cell carcinoma (OSCC) is characterized by the uncontrolled growth of thin, scale-like squamous cells in the outer layer of the mouth. Only around 50 per cent of patients who are treated through surgery or radiotherapy are cured, and the average duration of survival of those with advanced OSCC that recurs following treatment is just 6 to 9 months. Epidermal growth factor receptors (EGFRs) play important roles in driving the progression of some OSCCs. Drugs that target them, however, only work in a small number of patients. A 2012 clinical trial led by Daniel Tan at NCCS and A*STAR's Genome Institute of Singapore had found that the EGFR-blocking drug gefitinib worked well in two patients with two copies of the EGFR coding gene with an adenine (A) nucleobase in place of the more common guanine (G) at a particular location. More recently, tests by Gopal Iyer, also at NCCS, and Tan showed that OSCC patient-derived cells with the above A/A genotype were sensitive to gefitinib and erlotinib, another EGFR blocker. Those with the G/G or G/A variants exhibited resistance to the drugs. Editing the DNA of the G/G genotype cells to [...]

Oral Cancer Foundation News Team - A2018-03-23T11:39:12-07:00March, 2018|Oral Cancer News|

Targeted Drugs No Help in Head and Neck Cancer

Source: medpagetoday.comAuthor: Charles Bankhead, Staff Writer, MedPage TodayDate: March 05, 2013 The addition of targeted agents to standard chemotherapy failed to improve efficacy in two different trials of advanced head and neck cancer. In one trial, patients given gefitinib (Iressa) in addition to docetaxel lived about a month longer than those who received docetaxel plus placebo. In the other trial, adding erlotinib (Tarceva) to cisplatin-based chemoradiation did not improve response rate or progression-free survival. However, neither regimen was associated with increased toxicity compared with standard chemotherapy, investigators reported online in the Journal of Clinical Oncology. Noting the lack of useful biomarkers to guide the use of targeted agents, the authors of an accompanying editorial said that experience to date suggests current strategies amount to "skimming the surface of a problem that is exceedingly complex." "It is unlikely that genomic sequencing alone will represent a panacea to the therapeutic challenges in squamous cell carcinoma of the head and neck," said Aaron R. Hansen, MBBS, and Lillian L. Siu, MD, of Princess Margaret Cancer Center in Toronto. "Comprehensive characterization that encompasses a broader omics-based molecular evaluation, as well as immune function assessments, is urgently needed." The rationale for the gefitinib and erlotinib trials came from evidence that the drugs targeting epidermal growth factor receptors (EGFR) have synergism with conventional chemotherapeutic agents, have radiosensitizing properties, and have demonstrated modest activity as monotherapy in some clinical studies. Cetuximab (Erbitux), another EGFR inhibitor, has been approved for use with radiation therapy or as monotherapy [...]

Charlotte Parker2013-03-07T14:25:20-07:00March, 2013|Oral Cancer News|

Report highlights cancer advances

Source: www.medpagetoday.com Author: Charles Bankhead, Staff Writer, MedPage Today As the war on cancer enters its fifth decade, 51 studies stood out as examples of progress that occurred in the past year, as determined by the American Society of Clinical Oncology (ASCO) and reported in "Clinical Cancer Advances 2009." Reflecting input from specialists throughout the field, the ASCO annual report highlights research developments for nine types of cancer, as well as cancer disparities, quality of life and quality of care, and cancer prevention and screening. "As this report demonstrates -- and as history shows -- investment in clinical cancer research pays off," ASCO president Douglas Blayney, MD, of the University of Michigan in Ann Arbor, said in a statement included in the report. "Since 1990, cancer mortality rates have declined by 15%. Today, two-thirds of patients survive at least five years after diagnosis, compared to just half of patients 40 years ago." "Thanks to basic research advances, we are entering an era of personalized cancer medicine, in which treatment is tailored to the unique genetics of the individual," Blayney added. The entire report appears online in the Journal of Clinical Oncology, but here is a summary of developments related to some of the most common cancers. In an attempt to provide context and a diversity of viewpoints, MedPage Today, in collaboration with ABC News, solicited comments from cancer specialists who were not involved in developing the ASCO publication. As appropriate, their views are included with the review of cancer research [...]

Oral Cancer Foundation News Team - A2009-11-10T08:08:06-07:00November, 2009|Oral Cancer News|

Gefitinib shows promise as treatment for advanced head and neck cutaneous squamous cell carcinoma

Source: www.docguide.com Author: Louise Gagnon Gefitinib produces a significant response in patients with advanced head and neck cutaneous squamous cell carcinoma (cSCC) prior to standard treatment, according to a phase 2 study presented here at the 2nd World Congress of the International Academy of Oral Oncology (IAOO). "We want to shrink the tumour as much as we can prior to surgery, so the patient will have the best outcome," said Shirley Taylor, University of Texas M. D. Anderson Cancer Center, Houston, Texas, on July 9. Taylor noted that patients with advanced squamous cell carcinoma on the head and neck face a poor prognosis with standard treatments of surgery and radiation, so clinicians are exploring other therapies to improve prognosis for this patient population. Since epidermal growth factor receptor (EGFR) is a tyrosine kinase that is overexpressed in cSCC, it was logical to use a compound that inhibits the catalytic activity of the tyrosine kinase, explained Taylor. "It is a more targeted therapy," noted Taylor. The study enrolled 23 patients, 22 of whom were evaluable for responses and toxicities to gefitinib. Patients received oral gefitinib 250 mg/day for 2 cycles of 30 days each and were evaluated for response via computed tomography (CT) or magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) at 15 days after therapy "If patients showed a response, they continued to receive therapy," explained Taylor. "If they showed stable disease, the dose was escalated to 500 mg per day. If they showed progression of disease, they were taken off the drug." [...]

Oral Cancer Foundation News Team - A2009-07-15T04:05:55-07:00July, 2009|Oral Cancer News|

Iressa as good as chemotherapy for lung cancer

Source: health.usnews.com Author: Steven Reinberg The cancer-fighting pill Iressa works as well as chemotherapy as a second-line treatment for lung cancer, researchers report. Although neither therapy prolongs survival beyond eight months, Iressa (gefitinib) causes fewer serious side effects and may be a better choice for patients who did not do well on their first round of chemotherapy. "A pill, with less side effects, taken once a day, has similar activity to traditional chemotherapy given by vein every three weeks," said lead researcher Dr. Edward Kim, an assistant professor at the M. D. Anderson Cancer Center in Houston. This finding should reassure doctors that they are not compromising effective therapy by using a pill, Kim said. Iressa is not available in the United States, but a similar drug, Tarceva, is. Iressa was first developed by AstraZeneca, but it failed to meet expectations. The National Cancer Institute ended clinical trials of the drug in 2005 because it failed to prolong the lives of lung cancer patients. The latest finding has meaning for these patients, however, Kim said. "You can be treated for lung cancer. There are different therapies available, and they have different side-effect profiles," he said. "Chemotherapy will never be eliminated, but we are getting more options for targeted therapy; and people can live as normal a life as they can bearing the weight of lung cancer." The report was published in the Nov. 22 issue of The Lancet. In a head-to-head comparison, Kim's team randomly assigned 1,466 lung cancer patients [...]

Oral Cancer Foundation News Team - A2008-11-23T09:25:18-07:00November, 2008|Oral Cancer News|