2021 – Page 10 – Oral Cancer News

Roche launches Elecsys Anti-p53 immunoassay to aid diagnosis of various cancer types

Source: www.globenewswire.com Author: press release, F. Hoffmann-La Roche Ltd Roche today announced the launch of the Elecsys Anti-p53 immunoassay for the in vitro quantitative determination of anti-p53 antibodies. This test is used to aid physicians to diagnose throat cancer, bowel cancer and breast cancer in patients, in conjunction with other diagnostic tests. The assay is now available for all markets accepting the CE Mark. “The addition of our Elecsys Anti-p53 immunoassay will help clinicians to quickly and reliably diagnose several prevalent cancers and might assist in leading to a better prognosis for many patients.”, said Thomas Schinecker, CEO Roche Diagnostics. “Beyond breakthrough cancer medicines, Roche also offers a growing number of testing solutions to help physicians diagnose and treat people with cancer. p53 is protein which, when active, helps to regulate processes which stop tumors from developing. A mutation of p53 is present in half of solid tumor cancers and is the most common genetic change identified so far in human cancers.1 Certain mutations of p53 can lead to a build up of p53 which results in the formation of anti-p53 autoantibodies. Autoantibodies are antibodies that mistakenly target and react with a person’s own tissues. Between 20-50% of patients with mutated p53 will produce anti-p53 autoantibodies.2 This mutation causes the tumor suppressive function of p53 to switch to a tumor-promoting function and thus cancer development. Early appearance of anti-p53 antibodies during tumour development may have potential to detect malignant changes.3 The Elecsys Anti-p53 immunoassay detects these anti-p53 antibodies and, when [...]

Oral Cancer Foundation News Team - A2021-04-08T09:59:47-07:00April, 2021|Oral Cancer News|

Your cancer answers: can nutrition, exercise improve quality of life for head, neck cancer patients?

Source: syvnews.com Author: John Malinowski, Marian Cancer Care Question: How can nutrition and exercise improve quality of life for head and neck cancer patients? Head and neck cancers affect more than 52,000 Americans each year and account for about 5% of new cancer cases worldwide. Treatment of head and neck cancer with concurrent chemo radiotherapy with curative intent may cause side effects leading to deterioration of long-term quality of life and disability that persists years after treatment. Many head and neck cancer patients experience treatment related side effects such as; difficulty swallowing, difficulty with speech, loss of taste or smell and unintended weight loss which often can be attributed to decreased muscle mass. There are a few things that you can do to try helping to maintain your body weight during treatment. Nutrition can be one tool to help ensure you are taking in enough calories and the right nutrients to help your body fight the cancer. Often when undergoing cancer treatments our body has an increased demand of caloric intake. This can be a challenge to increase your calories while undergoing treatment so try eating several smaller meals throughout the day, maybe even every 2-3 hours. With each meal try to incorporate some carbohydrates, fats, and protein. Make sure you are intentional about chewing your food. You can try to chew each bite 50 times or trying to incorporate softer texture foods can make it easier to swallow. Steaming or boiling vegetables rather than eating raw may help. Softer [...]

Oral Cancer Foundation News Team - A2021-04-08T09:46:35-07:00April, 2021|Oral Cancer News|

HPV vaccine leads to more than 80% drop in infections: What parents need to know

Source: Good Morning, America Date: April 2nd, 2021 Author: Kathleen Kindalen A new study has shown the effectiveness of the HPV vaccine, and found a dramatic decline in human papillomavirus infections in both vaccinated and unvaccinated teen girls and young women in the United States. "This study shows that the vaccine works very well against a common virus, HPV," Dr. Hannah Rosenblum, lead author of the study and medical epidemiologist at the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), told "Good Morning America." "HPV can cause serious health problems later in life, including some cancers in both women and men," she said. "HPV vaccination is cancer prevention -- by vaccinating children at age 11 or 12, we can protect them from developing cancers later in life." HPV is the most common sexually transmitted infection in the United States and can cause health problems like genital warts in addition to cancer, which are most commonly cervical cancer in women and throat cancer in men, according to the CDC. The HPV vaccine was first authorized in the U.S. for females in 2006, and for males in 2011. There has since been a more than 80% decline in HPV infections nationally, according to the CDC study. The newly-released data from the CDC shows an 88% decrease in HPV infections among 14 to 19-year-old females and an 81% decrease among 20 to 24-year-old females. There has also been a drop in unvaccinated females, according to Rosenblum, who warned that does not mean people [...]

Charlotte Parker2021-04-05T10:31:43-07:00April, 2021|Oral Cancer News|

City offers Oral Cancer Screenings; Health Officials aim to reduce cancer rates, save lives

Source: El Paso Herald Post Date: April 1st, 2021 Author: Staff Reporter Thursday morning, city officials announced that they will be offering referral services and health screenings to decrease the rate of oral cancer diagnoses and save lives, in recognition of April’s National Oral Cancer Awareness Month. “Improving oral and oropharyngeal cancer awareness in our community is imperative,” said Angela Mora, Department of Public Health Director. “Oral cancer has an incidence rate of about 7.2 per 100,000 residents in El Paso County and affects males twice as much as females in the U.S., but we as a community can work to reduce the incidence rate by participating in Oral Cancer Awareness month.” Mora said residents can take part in Oral Cancer Awareness month by: Reducing the use of tobacco products Tobacco use and vaping significantly increases the risk of infection by the human papillomavirus (HPV) which causes oral or oropharyngeal cancer. Getting Screened Oral and oropharyngeal cancers occur most often in the tongue, soft and hard palate, tonsils, gums and back of the throat which is why regular oral and dental examinations by a health professional is important. Getting the Human Papilloma Virus (HPV) Vaccine According to the CDC, HPV is known to cause approximately 70 percent of oral and oropharyngeal cancer cases, and the HPV vaccine was developed to prevent infection by the high-risk types of HPV that cause cancers such as oral and oropharyngeal cancer. For more information on the services and health screenings provided by the Department [...]

Charlotte Parker2021-04-02T09:40:38-07:00April, 2021|Oral Cancer News|

UB awarded $1.5 million to reprogram white blood cells in fight against oral cancer

Source: Science Magazine Date: March 25th, 2021 BUFFALO, N.Y. – The University at Buffalo has received a $1.5 million grant from the United States Department of Defense to develop new therapies that help reduce chronic inflammation and immunosuppression in oral cancers. Through the three-year grant, the research will center on a type of white blood cell called a macrophage that – after migrating to oral tumors – triggers uncontrolled inflammation, which suppresses the body’s immune response and lowers the effectiveness of anticancer therapies. The researchers aim to reprogram the macrophages by targeting genes that regulate inflammation. By lowering inflammation, oral cancers will become more sensitive to new and traditional chemotherapies. If successful, the findings could help increase survivorship of oral cancers, which claim the life of roughly half of all oral cancer patients within five years, according to Keith Kirkwood, DDS, PhD, principal investigator, Centennial Endowed Chair and professor of oral biology in the UB School of Dental Medicine. “A change in behavior in the white blood cells within the tumor itself removes the ‘brakes’ in the system, causing more oral cancer growth,” says Kirkwood, also associate dean for innovation and technology transfer in the UB School of Dental Medicine. “We propose to reprogram the white blood cells to regain control of the brakes.” Additional investigators from Roswell Park Comprehensive Cancer Center include Wesley Hicks Jr., MD, DDS, chair of the Department of Head and Neck/Plastic and Reconstructive Surgery; William Magner, PhD, scientist in the Department of Immunology; and Scott [...]

Charlotte Parker2021-03-26T10:35:32-07:00March, 2021|Oral Cancer News|

Deactivating cancer cell gene boosts immunotherapy for head and neck cancers

Source: newsroom.ucla.edu Author: Brianna Aldrich By targeting an enzyme that plays a key role in head and neck cancer cells, researchers from the UCLA School of Dentistry were able to significantly slow the growth and spread of tumors in mice and enhance the effectiveness of an immunotherapy to which these types of cancers often become resistant. Their findings, published online in the journal Molecular Cell, could help researchers develop more refined approaches to combating highly invasive head and neck squamous cell cancers, which primarily affect the mouth, nose and throat. Immunotherapy, which is used as a clinical treatment for various cancers, harnesses the body’s natural defenses to combat disease. Yet some cancers, including head and neck squamous cell carcinomas, don’t respond as well to the therapy as others do. The prognosis for these head and neck cancers is poor, with a high five-year mortality rate, and there is an urgent need for effective treatments. The UCLA research team, led by distinguished professor Dr. Cun-Yu Wang, chair of oral biology at the dentistry school, demonstrated that by targeting a vulnerability in the cellular process of tumor duplication and immunity, they could affect tumor cells’ response to immunotherapy. The enzyme they focused on, KDM4A, is what is known as an epigenetic factor — a molecule that regulates gene expression, silencing some genes in cells and activating others. In squamous cell head and neck cancers, overexpression of KDM4A promotes gene expression associated with cancer cell replication and spread. It is well known that [...]

Oral Cancer Foundation News Team - A2021-03-25T13:21:05-07:00March, 2021|Oral Cancer News|

Deal-making in head and neck cancer to start yielding dividends for patients

Source: www.thepharmaletter.com Author: staff A frenzy of deal-making activity in head and neck cancer is bringing late-stage clinical candidates into view, according to GlobalData. Intelligence from the data and analytics provider shows that there have been some 340 licensing agreements since 2004 in head and neck cancer, amounting to an approximate total value of $35 billion. Aarohi Rede, oncology analyst at GlobalData, said: “The past few years have seen several licensing deals globally for clinical development in head and neck cancer. Merck KGaA’s collaboration with Debiopharm has the potential to transform the current treatment paradigm for head and neck squamous cell carcinoma (HNSCC) by combining xevinapant, a new molecular entity, with Merck KGaA’s strong commercialization capabilities.” Of the total licensing agreements signed, the highest recorded licensing agreements took place in North America, followed by Asia-Pacific, while the lowest recorded number of deals belonged to South and Central America. Dr Rede added: “Head and neck cancer is largely a chemotherapy-dominated market, but the past few years have seen effective use of Keytruda (pembrolizumab) and Bristol Myers Squibb’s Opdivo (nivolumab) in the recurrent or metastatic settings. The current clinical development pipeline has around 20 late-stage agents in the immuno-modulating therapy or cell inhibitor classes, thus revealing a robust late-stage pipeline that is highly conducive to future partnerships for licensing and commercialization, and is expected to contribute to significant market growth over the next ten years.” Many of these licensing deals involve strategic partnerships between Asia-Pacific, namely Chinese manufacturers, and US pharmaceuticals for [...]

Oral Cancer Foundation News Team - A2021-03-25T13:15:11-07:00March, 2021|Oral Cancer News|

On treating advanced head and neck cancer without cisplatin – an oncology grand rounds discussion

Source: www.medpagetoday.com Author: Mark L. Fuerst An oncology grand rounds discussion with Sachin Jhawar, MD. Head and neck squamous cell carcinoma (HNSCC) represents a heterogeneous set of diseases with different features and treatment recommendations. Physicians face challenges in initial treatment decision-making and response assessments, including the changing role of surgery, the incorporation of human papilloma and Epstein Barr virus status, as well as the potential for treatment de-escalation using patient-related and tumor-related factors. A recent "Oncology Grand Rounds" article in the Journal of Clinical Oncology provides an overview of treating advanced HNSCC when cisplatin is not an option, including concurrent chemotherapy, cetuximab, targeted therapy, and immunotherapy. In the following interview, the paper's lead author, Sachin Jhawar, MD, of Ohio State University Comprehensive Cancer Center in Columbus, reviews the main issues. What is the focus of the article? Jhawar: We focused on patients with locally advanced disease who would be receiving definitive non-surgical treatment when possible treatment with concurrent cisplatin, delivered either every 3 weeks or weekly, is always the preferred treatment. We specifically wanted to delve into the subset of patients who we would not recommend to receive cisplatin because of age or comorbidities. This could be concurrent chemotherapy (carboplatin/paclitaxel), concurrent cetuximab, and altered or standard fractionation radiation schedules without systemic therapy, as well as when to consider immunotherapy and palliative radiation for those with recurrent or metastatic disease. There is also a great deal of institutional preference involved. At our institution, we prefer concurrent carboplatin/paclitaxel in patients who cannot [...]

Oral Cancer Foundation News Team - A2021-03-19T09:09:44-07:00March, 2021|Oral Cancer News|

A new type of recyclable: Finding new uses for established drugs

Source: www.eurekalert.org Author: news release Researchers from Tokyo Medical and Dental University (TMDU) uncover potential novel therapeutic strategies for oral and esophageal carcinomas Discovering and treating tumors before they spread throughout the body is key for cancer patients to achieve positive outcomes. When tumor cells spread, which is known as metastasis, they can take over other organs and lead to death. Oral and esophageal carcinomas, or mouth and throat cancers, frequently metastasize to the lymph nodes. Unfortunately, there are currently no therapies that are specific to treating these particular cancers. Now, researchers at Tokyo Medical and Dental University (TMDU) identified several drugs that can possibly be used to treat oral and esophageal carcinomas. In an article published in Molecular Cancer Research, a group of researchers from TMDU found that combining two drugs, pitavastatin and capmatinib, inhibited the viability of oral cancer cells in culture, as well as the growth of tumors in a mouse model. Although esophageal carcinoma is the sixth most deadly cancer worldwide and is relatively well understood at the molecular level, the research has not been translated into specific therapeutic development. Because of this urgent need, the TMDU group became interested in drug repurposing, where a drug that has been approved for a certain disease can be used to effectively treat an additional indication. This concept significantly speeds up the drug discovery and development process, increasing the number of patients that can benefit from an established therapeutic. "Drug repurposing can be extremely helpful for discovering efficacious treatments [...]

Oral Cancer Foundation News Team - A2021-03-17T10:04:37-07:00March, 2021|Oral Cancer News|

First UK clinical trial in proton beam therapy

Source: www.icr.ac.uk Author: staff Image: The Proton Beam Scanner. Credit: The Royal Christie NHS Foundation Trust The first proton beam therapy clinical trial in the UK, co-led by The Institute of Cancer Research, London, is now taking place at The Christie NHS Foundation Trust in Manchester. The trial will determine whether the use of proton beam therapy reduces long-term side effects and improves quality of life for patients treated with radiotherapy for throat cancer. The study, funded by Cancer Research UK with support from The Taylor Family Foundation started last year and, despite the Covid-19 pandemic, is recruiting ahead of target, with 37 patients so far taking part. In total 183 people will take part in the study, about two thirds will receive proton beam therapy, and a third will receive standard radiotherapy. State of the art proton beam therapy Currently all patients allocated proton treatment within the trial, which is called TORPEdO, receive this at the state of the art NHS proton beam therapy centre at The Christie in Manchester, which opened in 2018. Another centre is currently being built at University College London Hospitals. A combination of chemotherapy and radiotherapy is usually effective in curing head and neck cancers, but radiotherapy can damage the healthy surrounding tissue. This can result in severe long-term side effects including dry mouth, loss of taste, difficulty chewing and swallowing and problems with hearing. Some patients might need to use a feeding tube for the rest of their lives. Precisely target [...]

Oral Cancer Foundation News Team - A2021-03-15T14:17:54-07:00March, 2021|Oral Cancer News|