premalignant – Oral Cancer News

Health and geology experts work together in 250k project to improve early detection of oral cancer

Source: www.abdn.ac.uk Author: issued by The Communications Team, Directorate of External Relations, University of Aberdeen University of Aberdeen experts across the institutes of Dentistry, Medical Sciences and The School of Geosciences will work together to improve the ability to detect malignant changes in precancerous lesions which can develop into oral cancer in a £250k project. Oral cancer is a growing health problem that has seen little improvement in survival rates, mainly because of late diagnosis when the disease has progressed beyond a cure. One of the main challenges clinicians face is the lack of ways to reliably predict malignant changes in oral potentially malignant disorders (OPMDs) which carry a higher risk of developing into cancer. The researchers will use techniques typically used in geological and material science to develop methods that can detect disease progression to help identify patients at early stages when the potential of a cure is more likely. Funded by Cancer Research UK, the multidisciplinary team from the University of Aberdeen, including Dr Rasha Abu-Eid of the Institute of Dentistry, Professor Valerie Speirs from the Institute of Medical Sciences, and Dr Dave Muirhead, Head of the School of Geosciences, will work with specialists around the world including Professor WM Tilakaratne and Dr TG Kallarakkal from the University of Malaya in Malaysia, Professor BSMS Siriwardena from the University of Peradeniya in Sri Lanka and Professor J James from Queen’s University Belfast, Northern Ireland. Dr Rasha Abu-Eid explains: “In recent years we have seen a rise in oral cancer [...]

Oral Cancer Foundation News Team - A2023-03-02T21:47:34-07:00March, 2023|Oral Cancer News|

I get by with help from my friends: Maintaining immune cells in head and neck cancer

Source: www.eurekalert.org Author: Medical University of South Carolina In an article published September 22, 2016 in Frontiers in Immunology, researchers at the Medical University of South Carolina (MUSC) and the Ralph H. Johnson VA Medical Center report that inhibiting prostaglandin production slows the progression of premalignant lesions to head and neck squamous cell carcinoma (HNSCC). Preclinical studies showed that treatment of premalignant lesions with indomethacin, a nonsteroidal anti-inflammatory drug (NSAID) similar to aspirin, increased the presence of immune cells and lessened tumor burden. Cancers of the head and neck begin with lesions in the oral cavity, including the larynx, pharynx, throat, lips, mouth, salivary glands, and nasal passages. Although the incidence of HNSCC has been on the decline over the past several decades, the National Cancer Institute reports that approximately 3% of all cancers in the U.S. result from HNSCC, with men being diagnosed twice as often as women. Treatment for HNSCC includes surgical removal and chemo-radiation treatment; however, these interventions often fail, and patients have a five-year survival rate of only 50%. It is critical to determine better treatment options for HNSCC patients. One way researchers at MUSC are trying to improve the treatment of HNSCC is by enhancing the body's own immune system to attack the tumor. "There's a lot of effort to stimulate immune reactivity using immunotherapy. The problem with that is cancer can protect itself against the immune defenses. Head and neck cancer is notorious for that," said immunologist M. Rita Young, Ph.D., senior author for [...]

Oral Cancer Foundation News Team - A2016-12-01T14:54:58-07:00December, 2016|Oral Cancer News|

LED Medical, BC Cancer Agency, Genome British Columbia to develop test for oral cancer

Source: www.genomeweb.com Author: staff LED Medical Diagnostics this week announced an agreement to form a collaboration to develop and commercialize a progression-risk assessment test for oral cancer. The agreement is with BC Cancer Agency to form a relationship with Genome British Columbia. The test, LED said, is based on loss of heterozygosity. The Genome BC Strategic Opportunities Fund is funding the project called “Development of an actionable molecular test for risk assessment of oral precancers,” which is designed to leverage research that Canada’s National Institute of Health and the Terry Fox Research Institute funded. Catherine Poh, an associate professor of dentistry at the University of British Columbia, is the project leader. In a statement, LED Medical's Founder and Director Peter Whitehead said, "Until recently, a major barrier to oral cancer prevention has been the lack of validated risk predictors for oral premalignant lesions. …This test, which measures specific genetic changes that have been shown to predict aggressive tumor growth, has the potential to lower oral cancer morbidity and mortality rates." "Throughout the development process we will strive to create the first test that quantifies the likelihood that an oral lesion will progress to cancer,” he added. LED Medical is based in British Columbia and develops LED-based visualization technologies.

Oral Cancer Foundation News Team - A2014-01-19T08:20:21-07:00January, 2014|Oral Cancer News|

Predicting oral cancer

Source: www.dailyrx.com Oral cancers can occur anywhere in the mouth. As with any cancer, the sooner it’s found, the better. A new tool helps doctors know when oral cancer may be in a patient’s future. A recent study finds that a set of molecular markers can help judge which lesions in the mouth are most likely to turn into oral cancer. The Oral Cancer Prediction Longitudinal Study was conducted in Canada at the Oral Cancer Prevention Program at the BC Cancer Agency in Vancouver. "The results of our study should help to build awareness that not everyone with a low-grade oral premalignant lesion will progress to cancer," said Program Director, Miriam Rosin, PhD. "However, they should also begin to give clinicians a better idea of which patients need closer follow-up." Every year, cancer shows up in the mouths of nearly 300,000 people around the globe. Some of these start as spots – or lesions – in the mouth that have not yet become cancerous. It’s always been difficult to tell which of these pre-malignant lesions will progress to full blown cancer. In an earlier study, Rosin’s team had analyzed the DNA of tissue that eventually turned into oral cancer. This research provided a method for grouping patients according to risk. For this study, researchers examined pre-cancerous tissue from nearly 300 patients, who were followed over a period of years. These patients were placed into either low-, intermediate- or high-risk groups. Two additional DNA markers were used to zero in on [...]

Oral Cancer Foundation News Team - A2012-09-11T08:13:58-07:00September, 2012|Oral Cancer News|

A spitting image of health

Source: http://www.sciencenews.org Author: Susan Galdos Rinse and spit. Someday soon, doctors may join dentists in issuing these simple instructions. And before leaving the office, you might know whether you’re at risk for oral cancer. Additional tests on that same ptui may reveal whether you show signs of certain other cancers or diseases such as diabetes and Alzheimer’s. Saliva — the frothy fluid that helps clean the mouth, digest food and fight tooth decay — carries many of the same proteins and other molecules found in blood and urine. Scientists have long been interested in mining a person’s mix of these compounds for clues to diagnosing diseases. Three years ago, these efforts got a boost when researchers completed a preliminary master list of the proteins found in spit — 1,166 of them. Since then, scientists have nearly doubled the length of the protein list, while identifying changes in the salivary protein profile that are linked to disease. Other labs are delving into genetic material found in human saliva, looking for variations in gene activity that might signal disease risk. Already, studies show that diseases such as breast cancer, type 2 diabetes and Alzheimer’s leave specific and identifiable signatures in saliva. Such biomarkers have also been found for Sjögren syndrome, an autoimmune condition that affects production of tears and saliva. And proteins known to be related to heart activity, including a handful whose levels are elevated during a heart attack, have also shown up in spittle. Such findings — combined with the [...]

Oral Cancer Foundation News Team - A2011-11-06T10:34:31-07:00November, 2011|Oral Cancer News|

SIBLING proteins may predict oral cancer

Source: www.sciencedaily.com Author: Medical College of Georgia The presence of certain proteins in premalignant oral lesions may predict oral cancer development, Medical College of Georgia researchers said. SIBLINGs, or Small Integrin-Binding Ligand N-linked Glycoproteins, are a family of five proteins that help mineralize bone but can also spread cancer. SIBLINGs have been found in cancers including breast, lung, colon and prostate. "Several years ago we discovered that three SIBLINGs -- osteopontin, bone sialoprotein and dentin sialophosphoprotein -- were expressed at significantly high levels in oral cancers," said Dr. Kalu Ogbureke, an oral and maxillofacial pathologist in the MCG School of Dentistry. "Following that discovery, we began to research the potential role of SIBLINGs in oral lesions before they become invasive cancers." The study, published online in the journal Cancer, examined 60 archived surgical biopsies of precancerous lesions sent to MCG for diagnosis and the patients' subsequent health information. Eighty-seven percent of the biopsies were positive for at least one SIBLING protein -- which the researchers discovered can be good or bad, depending on the protein. For instance, they found that the protein, dentin sialophosphoprotein, increases oral cancer risk fourfold, while bone sialoprotein significantly decreases the risk. "The proteins could be used as biomarkers to predict [the potential of a lesion to become cancerous]," said Dr. Ogbureke, the study's lead author. "That is very significant, because we would then be in a position to modify treatment for the individual patient's need in the near future." Precancerous oral lesions, which can develop [...]

Oral Cancer Foundation News Team - A2010-09-21T12:49:42-07:00September, 2010|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|

Autofluorescence-guided surveillance for oral cancer

Source: cancerpreventionresearch.aacrjournals.org Authors: Vijayvel Jayaprakash et al. Early detection of oral premalignant lesions (OPL) and oral cancers (OC) is critical for improved survival. We evaluated if the addition of autofluorescence visualization (AFV) to conventional white-light examination (WLE) improved the ability to detect OPLs/OCs. Sixty high-risk patients, with suspicious oral lesions or recently diagnosed untreated OPLs/OCs, underwent sequential surveillance with WLE and AFV. Biopsies were obtained from all suspicious areas identified on both examinations (n = 189) and one normal-looking control area per person (n = 60). Sensitivity, specificity, and predictive values were calculated for WLE, AFV, and WLE + AFV. Estimates were calculated separately for lesions classified by histopathologic grades as low-grade lesions, high-grade lesions (HGL), and OCs. Sequential surveillance with WLE + AFV provided a greater sensitivity than WLE in detecting low-grade lesions (75% versus 44%), HGLs (100% versus 71%), and OCs (100% versus 80%). The specificity in detecting OPLs/OCs decreased from 70% with WLE to 38% with WLE + AFV. Thirteen of the 76 additional biopsies (17%) obtained based on AFV findings were HGLs/OCs. Five patients (8%) were diagnosed with a HGL/OC only because of the addition of AFV to WLE. In seven patients, additional HGL/OC foci or wider OC margins were detected on AFV. Additionally, AFV aided in the detection of metachronous HGL/OC in 6 of 26 patients (23%) with a history of previously treated head and neck cancer. Overall, the addition of AFV to WLE improved the ability to detect HGLs/OCs. In spite of the lower [...]

Oral Cancer Foundation News Team - A2009-11-05T13:17:24-07:00November, 2009|Oral Cancer News|