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Calls grow for treatment deintensification of HPV-positive OPC

Source: ww.pharmacytimes.com Author: Bryan Fitzgerald, PharmD, BCOP Health-System Edition, July 2021, Volume 10, Issue 4 Oropharyngeal cancer (OPC) is a type of head and neck cancer that affects structures in the back of the throat, including the base of the tongue, the posterior pharynx, the soft palate, and the tonsils.1 In the United States, rates of OPC are increasing each year, with an estimated 54,010 new cases in 2021.2 Well-established risk factors include alcohol abuse; exposure to tobacco, including chewing tobacco, cigarettes, and pipes; and infection with human papillomavirus (HPV). With an estimated 43 million infections in 2018, HPV is the most common sexually transmitted infection in the United States.3 HPV infection is causally linked with cancers of the anogenital region, including anal, cervical, penile, vaginal, and vulvar cancers. When HPV is spread orally, infections can also lead to the development of OPC. In the United States, more than 70% of OPC cases are caused by HPV.4 HPV is a group of more than 100 viruses, including certain high-risk strains associated with the development of cancer. The HPV-16 strain is responsible for causing the majority of HPV-positive (HPV+) OPC cases, with HPV-18, HPV-33, and HPV-35 also contributing, albeit significantly less than HPV-16.1 In these high-risk HPV strains, the viral genome encodes several oncogenic proteins that inhibit tumor suppressor proteins, leading to chromosomal instability and malignancy in infected cells. HPV+ OPC is considered a genetically distinct form of OPC. Compared with HPV-negative (HPC–) OPC cases, HPV+ OPC is associated with a [...]

2021-07-21T10:05:34-07:00July, 2021|Oral Cancer News|
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Taste, smell dysfunction may persist after HNSCC treatment for longer than survivors anticipate

Source: www.oncologynurseadvisor.com Author: Bette Weinstein Kaplan Many people who survive squamous cell cancers of the head and neck (HNSCC) experience difficulty eating and drinking. The problem goes beyond the survivors’ active disease state and into recovery, where it continues to negatively affect their quality of life. HNSCC is the seventh most common cancer worldwide. These cancers are usually found in the oral cavity, pharynx, and larynx. Although often attributed to alcohol and tobacco use in the past, many malignancies seen today result from exposure to the human papillomavirus (HPV). Treatment plans for HNSCC include combination regimens such as chemoradiation or single therapy such as surgery or radiation by itself. Taste dysfunction is one of the most common adverse effects patients report after treatment, and it has a significant impact on patients’ quality of life. M. Yanina Pepino, PhD, professor of Food Science and Human Nutrition at the University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign, and her colleagues recently conducted a study on the long-term effects of HNSCC treatment. Their goal was to determine when and if senses of taste and smell fully recover after treatment is completed. Most sensory evaluation studies reported the difficulty in taste and smell should be expected to resolve within several months after cessation of treatment; however, many survivors report continued taste dysfunction more than 6 months after treatment completion. For this study, Dr Pepino and her group recruited 40 survivors of HNSCC who had been treated with radiation therapy between 6 months and 10 years prior to recruitment. [...]

2021-07-19T19:39:05-07:00July, 2021|Oral Cancer News|
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Blood test that finds 50 types of cancer is accurate enough to be rolled out

Source: www.theguardian.com Author: Nadeem Badshah A simple blood test that can detect more than 50 types of cancer before any clinical signs or symptoms of the disease emerge in a person is accurate enough to be rolled out as a screening test, according to scientists. The test, which is also being piloted by NHS England in the autumn, is aimed at people at higher risk of the disease including patients aged 50 or older. It is able to identify many types of the disease that are difficult to diagnose in the early stages such as head and neck, ovarian, pancreatic, oesophageal and some blood cancers. Scientists said their findings, published in the journal Annals of Oncology, show that the test accurately detects cancer often before any signs or symptoms appear, while having a very low false positive rate. The test, developed by US-based company Grail, looks for chemical changes in fragments of genetic code – cell-free DNA (cfDNA) – that leak from tumours into the bloodstream. The Guardian first reported on the test last year and how it had been developed using a machine learning algorithm – a type of artificial intelligence. It works by examining the DNA that is shed by tumours and found circulating in the blood. More specifically, it focuses on chemical changes to this DNA, known as methylation patterns. Now the latest study has revealed the test has an impressively high level of accuracy. Scientists analysed the performance of the test in 2,823 people with the [...]

2021-07-18T19:32:00-07:00July, 2021|Oral Cancer News|
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Marine Corps corporal gets 3D-printed teeth with jaw reconstruction

Source: www.upi.com Author: Ed Adamczyk A Marine Corps member is the first recipient of the Defense Department's first jaw reconstruction using 3D-printed teeth, the Pentagon said on Friday. A tumor prompted the removal of most of Cpl. Jaden Murry's jaw in a November 2020 surgery. Murry is a member of Logistics Battalion 7, Marine Corps Air Ground Combat Center at Twentynine Palms, Calif. The jaw was reconstructed using a portion of his fibula, or lower leg bone, but his lower teeth were made using a digital model, which was then printed into a physical replacement bridge and inserted in the new jaw. The surgery was conducted by a multi-department team of surgical specialists at the Naval Medical Center in San Diego. "All of the providers worked as a team to keep his recovery on track," Lt. Cmdr. Daniel Hammer, maxillofacial surgical oncologist and reconstructive surgeon, said in a press release. "We were able to safely remove his tracheostomy tube [inserted in a patient's neck when there are concerns about postoperative breathing] within a week of the surgery, and it was then we knew he was making strides in the right direction." Murry is recovering in the Naval Center's Wounded Warrior Battalion, and on a diet of soft foods. A final prosthetic set of teeth will be available to him in about two months. "Since his surgery, [OMFS specialists and I] see Jaden twice weekly for check-ups, and we're guiding his healing process," Hammer said in December. "To see him swallowing, [...]

2021-07-12T18:56:32-07:00July, 2021|Oral Cancer News|
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A challenge to chew on: eating and drinking after cancer treatment

Source: www.curetoday.com Author: Dara Chadwick, Heal Exercise has always been part of Scott Wieskamp’s life. But after cancer treatment, the longtime runner and marathoner added a new element to his training regimen — exercises to strengthen and maintain his swallowing muscles. "Every day while I’m driving to work, I open my mouth like I’m yawning to stretch all my facial muscles as much as I can,” says Wieskamp, 62, who lives just outside Lincoln, Nebraska. “I take my tongue and put it under the back of my lower teeth and push as hard as I can to exercise my tongue muscles. There’s about half a dozen things I do for a few minutes every day.” Four years ago, Wieskamp was treated for oral cancer caused by the human papillomavirus. The aggressive treatment, which included 39 radiation sessions and several doses of the chemotherapy drug cisplatin, knocked out the cancer. But it also left Wieskamp unable to eat, and he lost 15 pounds in a matter of weeks. “As you get radiation in the neck and throat area, it becomes painful to swallow,” he says. “I quit doing all that. I quit eating, quit swallowing — I couldn’t even drink.” Because he was unable to get adequate nutrition, his doctors inserted a feeding tube so Wieskamp wouldn’t have to swallow. The tube stayed in place throughout his two months of treatment and for about a month after, he says. Although his nutrition improved, Wieskamp says he was left with another problem: [...]

2021-07-09T17:43:00-07:00July, 2021|Oral Cancer News|
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Public urged to help cancer researchers by playing online game

Source: news.sky.com Author: staff Scientists have turned to the public to help with their latest cancer research in the form of an online citizen science game. The game is designed to train a computer algorithm to recognise oral cancers in medical images. AcCELLerate tasks users with tracing the outline of a series of fluorescent dye-stained tongue images which become increasingly complex, using their computer mouse or finger on a smartphone. It is designed to train a computer algorithm to recognise oral cancers in medical images, improving its ability to differentiate between healthy and cancerous cells. "I'm really excited that the public will be contributing to my work on oral cancer," said Dr Priyanka Bhosale, from King's College London's Centre for Stem Cells and Regenerative Medicine. "The outcomes of the public training the AI will help me assess tumour tissue samples in a faster and more reliable way." It is hoped the tool can be used to advance research into other cancers. The game forms part of the Royal Society Summer Science 2021 event and can be found at citizen.cellari.io.

2021-07-08T15:05:51-07:00July, 2021|Oral Cancer News|
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RowanSOM researcher begins human trials for cancer treatment drug

Source: today.rowan.edu Author: news release Could a targeted therapy derived from a plant used medicinally in China for centuries offer the next breakthrough in cancer treatment? Dr. Gary Goldberg, associate professor in the Department of Molecular Biology at Rowan University School of Osteopathic Medicine (RowanSOM), is undertaking a human clinical trial to find out. Goldberg and his team are collaborating with a group at the Rutgers New Jersey Medical School headed by Dr. Mahnaz Fatazadeh, professor at Rutgers School of Dental Medicine, to test a new drug candidate called MASL. This novel compound has been trademarked and licensed from Rowan University by Sentrimed, a company founded by Goldberg. MASL is derived from Maackia amurensis, a legume tree native to the Amur River valley, which flows through parts of Russia and China. The MASL human trial marks a milestone for RowanSOM, Goldberg noted. “Coming up with a new drug and taking it to a clinical trial is an excellent example of investigator-initiated research from bench to bedside,” said Goldberg. “It has taken a lot of collaboration and work to get to this point.” The FDA considers MASL an investigational new drug. “This is a unique Phase I trial,” Goldberg said. “This study integrates investigation of patient safety, along with potential efficacy and proof of concept mechanistic studies.” Goldberg and his team began the ongoing human trial, involving 20 cancer patients, in fall 2020. While MASL has the potential to treat many kinds of cancer, this trial will test MASL’s effects on [...]

2021-07-01T08:33:12-07:00July, 2021|Oral Cancer News|
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World’s first research centre for recurrent head and neck cancer

Source: www.nationalhealthexecutive.com Author: Jasmine Jackson The Royal Marsden NHS FT have launched the world’s first research centre for recurrent head and neck cancer, as a result of funding from the Royal Marsden Cancer Charity. It hopes to accelerate research into the disease, which will be carried out by a world-class team of clinicians and researchers. The International Centre for Recurrent Head & Neck Cancer (IReC) also aims to improve patient outcomes in the UK and beyond, in the curative treatment, palliation, and supportive care of recurrent head and neck cancer. The IReC announced a series of initiatives to help achieve these goals, including: A national registry to improve understanding around recurrent head and neck cancer, whist capturing the different ways it is treated across the UK. A tissue biobank to support laboratory and translational research. An International Referral Centre to offer rapid second opinions for patients being treated in the UK and internationally. This will also include the funding of three PhD research fellows, trial managers, a clinical trial nurse and a data manager, to increase research capacity. Head and neck cancer is the 8th most common cancer in the UK, with more than 12,000 diagnoses each year. After treatment, it is estimated that between 20% and 40% of head and neck cancers will return, and in England, between 28% and 67% survive for five years or more. IReC Director Professor Vinidh Paleri, Consultant Head and Neck Surgeon at The Royal Marsden, said: “Treating recurrent head and neck cancer is [...]

2021-07-01T08:26:52-07:00July, 2021|Oral Cancer News|
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‘Vaccine for cancer’ trial begins in Liverpool and this is how it works

Source: www.liverpoolecho.co.uk Author: Jonathan Humphries, Public Interest Reporter The first human trials for a groundbreaking 'vaccine for cancer' have begun in Liverpool with the first patients recruited. A team of cancer researchers from Liverpool Head & Neck Centre, The Clatterbridge Cancer Centre, Liverpool University Hospitals and the University of Liverpool are trialling new vaccines that aim to harness a patients own immune system to fight cancer. Head and neck cancers, which include mouth, throat, tongue and sinus cancers, are particularly difficult to treat and carry a high risk of returning even after successful treatment. The first UK patient has now been recruited in Liverpool and vaccine production has begun at the Transgene laboratory in France. More patients will be recruited in coming months, with the aim of administering the first vaccine in a few months, when the usual treatment has been completed. The Transgene trial will involve around 30 people who have just completed treatment for advanced, but still operable, HPV-negative (not linked to human papilloma virus) squamous cell carcinoma of the head and neck (SCCHN). How does the vaccine work? Head and neck cancer can involve many different kinds of gene mutations resulting in the production of new proteins, called ‘neoantigens’, that vary widely between patients. The Transgene trial aims to produce individualised ‘therapeutic vaccines’, designed to trigger an immune response to the new antigen produced by a particular gene mutation linked to each patient’s own head and neck cancer. Chief Investigator for the UK trial, Professor Christian Ottensmeier, [...]

2021-06-28T06:19:30-07:00June, 2021|Oral Cancer News|
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Cancer survivors’ tongues less sensitive to tastes than those of healthy peers

Source: www.eurekalert.org Author: University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign, News Bureau Most survivors of squamous cell head and neck cancers report that their sense of taste is dulled, changed or lost during radiation treatment, causing them to lose interest in eating and diminishing their quality of life. In a study of taste and smell dysfunction with 40 cancer survivors, scientists at the University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign found that the tips of these individuals' tongues were significantly less sensitive to bitter, salty or sweet tastes than peers in the control group who had never been diagnosed with cancer. In a paper published in the journal Chemical Senses, the U. of I. team said this diminished taste sensitivity suggested that the taste buds on the front two-thirds of the cancer survivors' tongues or a branch of the chorda tympani facial nerve, which carries signals from the tip of the tongue to the brain, may have been damaged during radiation therapy. "While most studies suggest that patients' ability to taste recovers within a few months of treatment, patients report that they continue to experience taste dysfunction for years after treatment ends," said M. Yanina Pepino, a professor of food science and human nutrition at the U. of I. "Our primary goal in this study was to test the hypothesis that radiation therapy is associated with long-term alterations in patients' senses of smell and taste." While undergoing radiation and/or chemotherapy, head and neck cancer patients may lose taste buds, triggering a transient reduction in their [...]

2021-06-25T10:01:24-07:00June, 2021|Oral Cancer News|
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