October 2021 – Oral Cancer News

Two new studies show how to enhance effectiveness of cancer immunotherapy

Source: www.news-medical.net Author: Reviewed by Emily Henderson, B.Sc. Two new studies revealed that anti-PD-1 immunotherapy given before surgery was safe and effective for patients with oral-cavity squamous cell carcinoma (OCSCC) and identified potential molecular biomarkers in the blood and tumors of patients that would show how likely it is that someone would respond to immunotherapy. The studies, recently published in Cell Reports Medicine, were a collaborative effort between MUSC Hollings Cancer Center, UCLA Jonsson Comprehensive Cancer Center and Winship Cancer Institute of Emory University. Due to the highly invasive and resistant nature of OCSCC, researchers looked to anti-PD-1 immune checkpoint inhibitors to improve outcomes as this type of immunotherapy has revolutionized the way patients with advanced malignancies are treated. OCSCC, a subset of head and neck cancer, is prevalent in South Carolina due to the history of tobacco use. These cancers oftentimes require complicated surgeries that may be disfiguring, as treatment may involve removing all or a portion of the jawbone and tongue. David Neskey, M.D., a Hollings head and neck cancer specialist and co-senior author of the studies, said 50% of these patients will have a recurrence, and only 60% of patients are alive five years later. "This cancer can impact a patient's ability to talk and breathe," Neskey said. "It can impact a patient's ability to go out to a restaurant or socialize with friends and family. It's one of the reasons so many head and neck cancer doctors are seeking ways to improve outcomes for these patients." [...]

Oral Cancer Foundation News Team - A2021-10-31T07:02:29-07:00October, 2021|Oral Cancer News|

Patterns of care for incarcerated head and neck cancer patient receiving radiation: a single-center retrospective descriptive cohort study

Source: www.docwirenews.com Author: DocWire News Abstract: Purpose/Objective(s): United States (US) have the highest incarceration rate in the world. In the context of the US justice system, many inmates are older than 55 years of age and as such are at an increased risk of cancer development. Additionally, largely due to mass incarcerations, correctional control is associated with significant racial disparities, further layering the complexity of the prison population’s health. The purpose of this study was to describe patterns of care in incarcerated head and neck (H&N) cancer patients who received radiation treatment (RT) as a part of the management of their malignancy. Materials/Methods: Following IRB approval, a total of 44 charts of patients who were imprisoned for at least a part of their radiation treatment were manually reviewed. The variables extracted included demographic data (age, race, gender), vital status, tumor site, stage, social history, cancer history, RT purpose, RT plan details (start, end, duration, dose, fractionation, completion as prescribed, concurrent systemic treatment), weight loss, surveillance (loss to follow-up) and oncologic outcomes (tumor recurrence.) Data was summarized using descriptive statistics. Results: A total of 41/44 inmates were males (93%), 13/44 (29.5%) were African American. Median age at diagnosis was 49.5 years (range 27-68). A total of 21/44 tumors (47%) were oropharyngeal tumors, followed by 9 laryngeal tumors (20%). A total of 41 patients (93%) had a previous smoking history (median 20 pack years), and 30 (68%) had documented history of alcohol abuse. Most common treatment purpose was post-operative (47%) followed by [...]

Oral Cancer Foundation News Team - A2021-10-28T10:04:31-07:00October, 2021|Oral Cancer News|

New treatment for HPV-associated oropharynx cancer leads to excellent disease control, less side effects

Source: www.news-medical.net Author: Emily Henderson, B.Sc., Mayo Clinic Mayo Clinic researchers have found that a new, shorter treatment for patients with HPV-associated oropharynx cancer leads to excellent disease control and fewer side effects, compared to standard treatment. The new treatment employs minimally invasive surgery and half the standard dose of radiation therapy, compared to current treatments. The new treatment also lasts for two weeks, rather than the standard six weeks. Results of a study of the new treatment were presented Tuesday, Oct. 20, at the American Society for Radiation Oncology's Annual Meeting. Dr. Ma says that while the standard treatment for this type of cancer leads to high cure rates, it may also result in many short-term and long-term treatment toxicities, including dry mouth, problems swallowing, neck stiffness and jawbone problems. "Many of these side effects are directly linked to the amount of radiation used for treatment," says Dr. Ma. Dr. Ma and his colleagues developed an initial clinical trial looking at a new treatment using minimally invasive surgery and half the standard dose of radiation. The initial clinical trial demonstrated that well-selected patients could have excellent disease control with much lower toxicity using the new treatment. "Our findings suggest that in select patients with HPV-associated oropharynx a shorter course treatment, compared to the standard of care, yields a similar result," says Dr. Ma. Based on these phase 3 results, Mayo Clinic has adopted this shorter course treatment as its standard of care for well-selected patients. Dr. Ma and his [...]

Oral Cancer Foundation News Team - A2021-10-27T20:21:27-07:00October, 2021|Oral Cancer News|

Combination of drugs causes tumours to vanish in some terminally ill patients, study finds

Source: www.theguardian.com Author: Andrew Gregory, Health editor In a landmark trial, a cocktail of immunotherapy medications harnessed patients’ immune systems to kill their own cancer cells and prompted “a positive trend in survival”, according to researchers at the Institute of Cancer Research (ICR), London, and the Royal Marsden NHS foundation trust. One patient, who was expected to die four years ago, told the Guardian of the “amazing” moment nurses called him weeks after he joined the study to say his tumour had “completely disappeared”. The 77-year-old grandfather is now cancer-free and spent last week on a cruise with his wife. Scientists found the combination of nivolumab and ipilimumab medications led to a reduction in the size of tumours in terminally ill head and neck cancer patients. In some, their cancer vanished altogether, with doctors stunned to find no detectable sign of disease. Combining the two immunotherapy drugs could prove an effective new weapon against several forms of advanced cancer, experts believe. Results from other trials of the drug combination have previously suggested similar benefits for terminally ill kidney, skin and bowel cancer patients. As well as boosting the long-term survival chances of patients, scientists said, the immunotherapy treatment also triggered far fewer side-effects compared with the often gruelling nature of “extreme” chemotherapy, which is the standard treatment offered to many patients with advanced cancer. The results from the phase 3 trial, involving almost 1,000 dying head and neck cancer patients, were early and not statistically significant but were still “clinically [...]

Oral Cancer Foundation News Team - A2021-10-14T08:19:22-07:00October, 2021|Oral Cancer News|

Cancer Cell Map Initiative reveals protein interactions that drive cancer

Source: www.scienceboard.net Author: Leah Sherwood, The Science Advisory Board assistant editor A research group has mapped previously unknown interactions between proteins that drive cancer, thereby revealing potential new biomarkers and drug targets. The findings were published in a trio of papers in Science on October 1. The research is the work of the Cancer Cell Map Initiative (CCMI), a multi-institution research program founded in 2015 at the University of California, San Diego (UCSD) and San Francisco (UCSF) campuses. From the gene level to the protein level The CCMI approach seeks to gain a more expansive view of the activity underlying cancer by zooming in from the gene level to the protein level, which is far more detailed. "This is an entirely new way to do cancer research," Nevan Krogan, PhD, director of UCSF's Quantitative Biosciences Institute and co-senior author of the papers, said in a statement. "We realized we need another way to look at cancer that takes it a step beyond DNA." Genes contain instructions for building proteins, which then interact with other proteins. When gene mutations cause disruptions, they are reflected in the interactions among protein complexes that regulate activities in the body or turn individual functions on or off. For example, if a gene mutation results in misshapen protein, it may not interact correctly with other proteins, causing a loss of function that, in some cases, can lead to cancer. "We're elevating the conversation about cancer from individual genes to proteins, allowing us to look at how [...]

Oral Cancer Foundation News Team - A2021-10-05T07:57:08-07:00October, 2021|Oral Cancer News|

How Stanley Tucci lost his taste — and almost his love of food — to cancer

Source: nypost.com Author: Hailey Eber With his recent hit culinary quest show, “Searching for Italy,” and food-focused cult films such as 1996’s “Big Night” and 2009’s “Julie & Julia,” Stanley Tucci has established himself as not just an actor but also a serious epicurean. But, in his new memoir, “Taste: My Life Through Food” (Gallery Books), the 60-year-old reveals that he almost lost his love for food after he was diagnosed with an oral cancer four years ago. “There were times when I believed I would never ever be able to cook or enjoy a meal again with the people I love,” writes Tucci, who grew up in a large Italian family in Katonah, NY, and spent a year living in Italy in his early teens. When a dentist first told Tucci that the pain in his mouth might be due to an oral cancer of some sort, he writes that he “was stunned to the point of almost fainting.” Kate, his first wife and the mother of three of his children, died in 2009 after a lengthy battle with breast cancer. He was eventually diagnosed with cancer of the salivary gland and was hesitant to get treatment having seen how painful and ultimately futile it was for Kate. But knowing the cure rate for his type of cancer was nearly 90 percent — and that his current wife, Felicity, was pregnant — he went through it. Doctors initially wanted to remove the tumor at the base of his tongue, [...]

Oral Cancer Foundation News Team - A2021-10-05T07:03:29-07:00October, 2021|Oral Cancer News|

HB-200 vaccines show promised in HPV16+ cancers

Source: www.targetedonc.com Author: Sara Karlovitch In an interview with Targeted Oncology, Marshall Posner, MD, discusses the use of the HB-201 and HB-202 vaccines in patients with human papillomavirus 16- positive cancers. Adding pembrolizumab (Keytruda) to the HB-200 vaccines may help to improve efficacy in patients with human papillomavirus 16- positive (HPV16+) cancers, according to data from a phase 1 study. HPV16+ cancers are caused by the expression of E7 and E6 oncoproteins, which is a source of immunogenic neoantigens. A tumor-specific T-cell response is induced by replicating arenavirus vectors HB-201 and HB-202. The study (NCT04180215) assessed HB-201 monotherapy and HB-201 and HB-202 alternating 2-vector therapy intravenously with or without 1 intratumoral dose in HPV16+ cancers. An interim analysis looked at 38 patients with confirmed HPV16+ cancers. In total, 18 patients received HB-201 monotherapy, 9 received the monotherapy intravenously with or without 1 intratumoral dose and 11 patients received HB-201/HB-202 alternating therapy. In an interview with Targeted Oncology™, Marshall Posner, MD, a professor of medicine, hematology and medical oncology at Mount Sinai, discusses the use of the HB-201 and HB-202 vaccines in patients with HPV16+ cancers. TARGETED ONCOLOGY: Can you go over the safety, efficacy, and immunogenicity of arenavirus-based vectors HB-201 and HB-202 in patients with HPV16+ cancers? POSNER: This is a first in human phase 1 trial with expansion cohorts, to occur later, of 2 vaccines. One is a lympho-choriomeningitis virus-based arenavirus vaccine and the other is a pichinde virus-based vaccine, both of which express the E6 and E7 proteins, [...]

Oral Cancer Foundation News Team - A2021-10-05T06:53:43-07:00October, 2021|Oral Cancer News|