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Personalised cancer vaccine trials produce ‘really hopeful’ results

Source: news.sky.com Author: Thomas Moore, Science correspondent @SkyNewsThomas A personalised cancer vaccine made from individual patients' own DNA has produced "really hopeful" early results. The ground-breaking jab, created using technology perfected in the COVID pandemic, is being given to patients after they complete conventional treatment for head and neck cancers. Patients have a high chance of the cancer returning. Preliminary data from a clinical trial being run at The Clatterbridge Cancer Centre show that none of the first eight patients given the jab have relapsed, even after several months. But the cancer has returned in two of eight patients who weren't immunised. The numbers are far too small to draw firm statistical conclusions. But Professor Christian Ottensmeier, a consultant medical oncologist and director of clinical research at the centre, told Sky News he was "cautiously optimistic". "I am really hopeful, yes," he said. "I am quite excited about it. All the data are pointing in the right direction." A small clinical trial of the vaccine on patients with ovarian cancer in France and the US is also showing promising results How does the vaccine work? The jab, codenamed TG4050, is made by a French company called Transgene using similar technology that produced AstraZeneca's COVID vaccine. DNA from an individual patient's tumour is cut and pasted into a harmless virus. When the genetically modified virus is injected into the body, it trains the immune system to be on watch for cancer cells, hopefully destroying them at an early stage before there [...]

2022-07-06T06:56:39-07:00July, 2022|Oral Cancer News|
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How MRI and CT predict flap failure after head and neck reconstructive cancer surgery

Author: Noah Fromson Source: labblog.uofmhealth.org A composite picture from MR perfusion of a free flap demonstrating measurements made within the flap. Credit: Michigan Medicine When a patient with head and neck cancer has surgery to remove it, they often need reconstructive surgery in the form of a “free flap”, which is skin and tissue taken from a different part of the body and connected to the blood vessels of the wound in need of repair. This free flap method, called microvascular reconstruction, carries around a 10-40% risk of wound complications, with 10% of cases requiring another surgery. A Michigan Medicine study finds that early postoperative CT scans and MRIs can help predict whether a flap will fail, which could allow surgeons to intervene earlier. The results are published in the American Journal of Neuroradiology. “All patients who have this procedure can be investigated with non-invasive post-operative CT or MRI perfusion, and these two methods show a lot of promise as accurate biomarkers of predicting free flap viability,” said Ashok Srinivasan, M.D., FACR, senior author of the paper and neuroradiologist at University of Michigan Health. “By seeing how much blood is flowing in and out of the tissue, we may be able to predict if the flap will succeed and if the patient can be discharged earlier, or it may be able to tell us sooner that surgical intervention is needed to repair the flap. Radiologists have used CT and MRI perfusion with contrast to look at blood perfusion [...]

2022-06-24T14:02:20-07:00June, 2022|Oral Cancer News|
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Scientists hacked a locust’s brain to sniff out human cancer

Source: www.technologyreview.com Author: Jessica Hamzelou Cyborg locust brains can help spot the telltale signs of human cancer in the lab, a new study has shown. The team behind the work hopes it could one day lead to an insect-based breath test that could be used in cancer screening, or inspire an artificial version that works in much the same way. Other animals have been taught to spot signs that humans are sick. For example, dogs can be trained to detect when their owners’ blood sugar levels start to drop, or if they develop cancer, tuberculosis, or even covid. In all cases, the animals are thought to be sensing chemicals that people emit through body odor or breath. The mix of chemicals can vary depending on a person’s metabolism, which is thought to change when we get sick. But dogs are expensive to train and look after. And making a device that mimics a dog’s nose has proved extremely difficult to do, says Debajit Saha, one of the scientists behind the latest work, which has not yet been peer-reviewed. “These changes are almost in parts per trillion,” says Saha, a neural engineer at Michigan State University. This makes them hard to pick up even with state-of-the-art technologies, he adds. But animals have evolved to interpret such subtle changes in scents. So he and his colleagues decided to “hijack” an animal brain instead. Courtesy of researchers The researchers chose to work with locusts because these insects have been well studied [...]

2022-06-22T07:50:36-07:00June, 2022|Oral Cancer News|
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Michael Douglas regrets calling this “the best cure” for cancer

Source: bestlifeonline.com Author: Luisa Colón For decades, Michael Douglas has been box office gold, starring in blockbusters such as Wall Street, Fatal Attraction, and Basic Instinct, to name just a few. But in 2010 the actor made headlines for a different reason when he revealed that he'd been diagnosed with throat cancer at the age of 65. After successfully undergoing both chemotherapy and radiation, the star made a full recovery—but three years later, he revealed it wasn't actually throat cancer he'd been battling against. Read on to find out what it really was, and why he regrets making an unusual claim regarding what caused his condition, as well as what "the best cure" for it was. In the summer of 2013, Michael Douglas spoke to the Guardian about his experience with what he then described as throat cancer. After "many months of oral discomfort… a series of specialists missed the tumor and instead prescribed antibiotics," reported the Guardian. "Douglas then went to see a friend's doctor in Montreal who looked inside his mouth using a tongue depressor." The doctor discovered the tumor and ordered a biopsy, and Douglas was soon diagnosed with stage 4 cancer. Recalling his eight grueling weeks of chemotherapy and radiation, and subsequent liquids-only diet—during which he lost 45 pounds—Douglas told the Guardian it was a "rough ride," adding, "… the amount of chemo I was getting, it zaps all the good stuff too. It made me very weak." Later that year, Michael Douglas fans were surprised [...]

2022-06-20T07:05:35-07:00June, 2022|Oral Cancer News|
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Canada poised to become 1st country to add warnings on individual cigarettes

Source: globalnews.ca Author: Nicole Thompson, The Canadian Press Canada is poised to become the first country in the world to require that a warning be printed on every cigarette. The move builds on Canada’s mandate to include graphic photo warnings on tobacco products’ packaging – a groundbreaking policy that started an international trend when it was introduced two decades ago. “We need to address the concern that these messages may have lost their novelty, and to an extent we worry that they may have lost their impact as well,” Addictions Minister Carolyn Bennett said at a news conference Friday. “Adding health warnings on individual tobacco products will help ensure that these essential messages reach people, including the youth who often access cigarettes one at a time in social situations, sidestepping the information printed on a package.” A consultation period for the proposed change is set to begin Saturday, and the government anticipates the changes coming into force in the latter half of 2023. While the exact messaging printed on cigarettes could change, Bennett said the current proposal is: “Poison in every puff.” Bennett also revealed expanded warnings for cigarette packages that include a longer list of smoking’s health effects, including stomach cancer, colorectal cancer, diabetes, and peripheral vascular disease. Canada has required the photo warnings since the turn of the millennium, but the images haven’t been updated in a decade. Rob Cunningham, senior policy analyst with the Canadian Cancer Society, said he hopes the warnings printed directly on cigarettes become [...]

2022-06-14T05:17:24-07:00June, 2022|Oral Cancer News|
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The potential of e-learning interventions for AI-assisted contouring skills in radiotherapy (E33046)

Source: www.iaea.org Author: Kamal Akbarov The International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) is launching a new Coordinated Research Project (CRP) aimed at investigating the potential of artificial intelligence (AI) to enhance contouring skills in radiotherapy, especially focusing on increasing accuracy of delineation of organs at risk in head and neck cancers. Radiation oncology has evolved rapidly in recent decades in terms of innovations in treatment equipment, volumetric imaging, information technology and increased knowledge in cancer biology. New delivery technologies and associated imaging modalities have enabled highly optimized precision radiation therapy and contributed to improvements in tumor control and cancer patient cure. The selection and contouring of target volumes and organs at risk (OARs) has become a key step in modern radiation oncology. Concepts and terms for definition of gross tumor volume, clinical target volume and OARs have been continuously evolving and have become widely disseminated and accepted by the international radiation oncology community. However, clinical research from single institutions and multicentre experiences has provided evidence for major variations in contouring for both target volumes and OARs. In recent years, AI-based methods, such as deep learning, have improved auto-segmentation drastically. It is generally believed that the use of such tools will lead to lower the inter-observer variation and time savings for clinical staff. A wide palette of commercial deep learning-based auto-segmentation solutions are emerging with the promise of leveraging the aforementioned benefits. While the objective performances for deep learning-based auto-segmentation in retrospective studies are very promising, the actual clinical benefit is largely [...]

2022-06-14T05:09:39-07:00June, 2022|Oral Cancer News|
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Startup that uses saliva tests to diagnose oral cancers wins New Venture Challenge

Source: news.uchicago.edu Author: press release University of Chicago A startup developing saliva-based diagnostics to screen for oral cancers and pre-cancers has won first place in the 26th annual Edward L. Kaplan, ’71, New Venture Challenge, the signature venture competition for MBA students at the University of Chicago Booth School of Business. More than $1.76 million in investment was awarded to the 11 finalist teams competing in NVC finals on June 2, the largest amount ever awarded in the history of the pioneering startup accelerator. The event was held in person at Chicago Booth’s Harper Center for the first time since 2019. “Our finalist teams were spectacular and spectacularly diverse—from a test to detect cancer, to tiles for spacecraft, to a market for hydrogen, to wine and healthy food,” said Steven Kaplan, the Neubauer Family Distinguished Service Professor of Entrepreneurship and Finance at Chicago Booth and the Kessenich E.P. Faculty Director of the Polsky Center for Entrepreneurship and Innovation, where he cofounded the NVC. “The strength of our teams was such that they generated a record amount of investment, surpassing last year’s $1.73 million.” The Rattan L. Khosa First-Place Prize, totaling $665,000 in investment, was awarded to OrisDX, a venture that seeks to help alleviate the burden of cancer morbidity globally through greater access to non-invasive diagnostics and screening resulting in early detection of head and neck cancers. OrisDX, which is also a participant in the Compass deep tech accelerator, a finalist in the George Shultz Innovation Fund and was a [...]

2022-06-10T06:54:33-07:00June, 2022|Oral Cancer News|
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Simple blood test may allow for early detection of oral cancer

Source: www.eurekalert.org Author: Wiley press release The current 60% five-year survival rate of individuals with oral squamous cell carcinoma (OSCC)—a type of cancer of the mouth and throat—could be greatly improved if treatments were initiated as early as possible. In a study published in Natural Sciences, researchers used a technology called conductive polymer spray ionization mass spectrometry to screen the blood for metabolic signs of OSCC. The method could accurately distinguish between individuals with and without OSCC.  Also, two altered lipid markers that were discovered in the blood could be traced back to the cancer site for guiding surgical margin assessments. The method—which requires only a single drop of blood—could also distinguish between patients with early versus later stages of OSCC.  “This study represents the fruits of research involving the United States and China, in which all the participants believed that the results would be a win for both countries and for the world as a whole, an idea that seems alas to be disappearing in these times of mutual suspicion and distrust of international collaborations,” said co–corresponding author Richard N, Zare, PhD, of Stanford University. The author of an accompanying Research Highlight noted that the study “is a perfect showcase for how mass spectrometry-based metabolomics workflows can be simplified to make them usable in clinical applications.” URL Upon Publication: https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1002/ntls.20210071

2022-06-07T08:10:47-07:00June, 2022|Oral Cancer News|
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Radiation alone may suffice for some nasopharyngeal cancer

Source: www.medpagetoday.com Author: Ed Susman, Contributing Writer, MedPage Today In selected patients with nasopharyngeal carcinoma, radiation alone may do as much against the disease as the combination of radiation and chemotherapy but with fewer adverse effects, researchers suggested here. About 90% of patients who received radiation alone achieved failure-free survival at 3 years versus 91.9% of patients treated with both radiation and chemotherapy (P=0.86; non-inferiority P<0.001), reported Jun Ma, MD, PhD, of Sun Yat-sen University Cancer Center in Guangzhou, China. In his virtual oral presentation at the annual meeting of the American Society of Clinical Oncology, Ma also reported that 98.2% of patients treated with radiation alone survived to 3 years compared with 98.6% of patients who got both radiation and chemotherapy (P=0.30). The multifaceted subgroup analysis almost entirely favored treatment with alone. There was no difference in distant metastasis-free survival (95% in both arms) or local-regional recurrence-free survival, with both arms hovering in the 90-92% level. And patients treated with both therapeutic modes paid a price in adverse events (AEs), Ma reported, noting that grade 3 to 4 mucositis was observed in 18.9% of patients on chemoradiation but in just 9.7% of those on radiation therapy alone. A similar story in AEs was observed for leukopenia, neutropenia, nausea (0.6% vs 13% grade 3-4), vomiting (1.2% vs 14.8%), anorexia (4.8% vs 29%), and weight loss. That differential in AEs was reflected in quality of life measurements, with better scores in the radiation-only group as far as their global health status, [...]

2022-06-07T05:44:46-07:00June, 2022|Oral Cancer News|
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Docetaxel plus radiation new standard of care in cisplatin-ineligible head and neck cancer

Source: www.healio.com Author: Devin McLaughlin Perspective author: Marshall Posner, MD Docetaxel prolonged DFS (disease free survival) and OS (overall survival) when added to radiation for cisplatin-ineligible patients with locally advanced head and neck squamous cell carcinoma, according to study results presented at ASCO Annual Meeting. The addition of docetaxel also did not appear to worsen quality of life at 6 months, researchers concluded. “This now represents the new reference standard of care for cisplatin-ineligible patients planned for chemoradiotherapy,” Vanita Noronha, MD, of the department of medical oncology at Tata Memorial Center in Mumbai, India, said during a presentation. Background and methods Docetaxel has shown promise in phase 1 and phase 2 studies among patients unsuitable for cisplatin — a standard therapy in chemoradiation for locally advanced HNSCC, according to Noronha. However, limited prospective data exist in this setting. The open-label, randomized phase 3 study by Noronha and colleagues examined docetaxel as a radiosensitizer among 356 cisplatin-ineligible patients with locally advanced HNSCC set for treatment with radical or adjuvant chemoradiation. Researchers randomly assigned patients to radiation alone (n = 176) or with concurrent docetaxel dosed at 15 mg/m2 weekly for up to seven cycles (n = 180). Patients in the docetaxel group received a median six cycles of the treatment. The radiotherapy-alone and combination therapy groups had similar baseline characteristics, including median age (63 years vs. 61 years), ECOG performance status (59.7% vs. 50.6%) and reasons for cisplatin ineligibility (low creatinine clearance, 26.7% vs. 26.1%; hearing loss, 42.6% vs. 45%; ECOG [...]

2022-06-05T21:07:39-07:00June, 2022|Oral Cancer News|
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