Oral Cancer News – Page 31 – The Oral Cancer Foundation News Archive

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: [...]

Oral Cancer Foundation News Team - A2021-07-09T17:43:00-07:00July, 2021|Oral Cancer News|

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.

Oral Cancer Foundation News Team - A2021-07-08T15:05:51-07:00July, 2021|Oral Cancer News|

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 [...]

Oral Cancer Foundation News Team - A2021-07-01T08:33:12-07:00July, 2021|Oral Cancer News|

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 [...]

Oral Cancer Foundation News Team - A2021-07-01T08:26:52-07:00July, 2021|Oral Cancer News|

‘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, [...]

Oral Cancer Foundation News Team - A2021-06-28T06:19:30-07:00June, 2021|Oral Cancer News|

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 [...]

Oral Cancer Foundation News Team - A2021-06-25T10:01:24-07:00June, 2021|Oral Cancer News|

‘On the rise:’ Immunotherapy options for head and neck cancer

Source: www.curetoday.com Author: Kristie L. Kahl On behalf of the Head and Neck Cancer Alliance, Dr. Michael Moore spoke with CURE® about emerging therapies that potentially offer exciting new options for the future. Although rates of head and neck cancer have risen, in part because of the human papillomavirus (HPV), emerging therapies such as targeted agents and immunotherapies are paving the way for future treatment of the disease, according to Dr. Michael Moore. “I would say (immunotherapy) is probably one of the more exciting parts of what we’ve learned about head and neck cancer in recent years,” he told CURE® as a part of its “Speaking Out” video series. On behalf of the Head and Neck Cancer Alliance, CURE® spoke with Moore, associate professor of otolaryngology-head and neck surgery and chief of head and neck surgery at Indiana University School of Medicine in Indianapolis, about targeted therapies, immunotherapy and how clinical trials are leading the way for future treatments. How have genomics and targeted therapies played a role in head and neck cancer treatment? Well, I would say it’s an emerging role. And it’s not used as commonly in head-neck cancer as it is in some other areas. So molecular testing or targeted therapies essentially are looking at a very specific part of the tumor to see if we can develop a specific drug that will target just that; (the goal is to) weaken the cancer’s defense — that is one way to say it — and try to very [...]

Oral Cancer Foundation News Team - A2021-06-22T06:21:54-07:00June, 2021|Oral Cancer News|

Personalized 3D-printed shields protect healthy tissue during radiotherapy

Source: physicsworld.com Author: Jigar Dubal Personalized 3D-printed devices for radioprotection of anatomical sites at high risk of radiation toxicity: intra-oral device (A), oesophageal device (B) and rectal device (C) generated from patient CT images. The area for protection is highlighted in red. (Courtesy: CC BY 4.0/Adv. Sci. 10.1002/advs.202100510) One of the primary goals of radiation therapy is to deliver a large radiation dose to cancer cells whilst minimizing normal tissue toxicity. However, most cancer patients undergoing such treatments are likely to experience some side effects caused by irradiation of healthy tissue. The extent of this damage is dependent on the treatment location, with the most common toxicities involving the oral cavity and gastrointestinal tract. Materials with a high atomic number (Z), often known as radiation-attenuating materials, can be used to shield normal tissue from radiation. However, integrating such materials into current patient treatment protocols has proven difficult due to the inability to rapidly create personalized shielding devices. James Byrne and colleagues at Brigham and Women’s Hospital, Dana-Farber Cancer Institute, Massachusetts General Hospital and MIT have addressed this need. The team has developed 3D-printed radiation shields, based on patient CT scans, incorporating radiation-attenuating materials to reduce the toxicity to healthy tissue. Producing personalized 3D-printed shielding Before a patient undergoes radiotherapy, they undergo CT scans to provide anatomical information that is used to plan their treatment. Byrne and his colleagues utilize these CT images to design personalized radio-protective devices, which they produce through 3D printing. To determine the most appropriate [...]

Oral Cancer Foundation News Team - A2021-06-16T06:43:07-07:00June, 2021|Oral Cancer News|

Five reasons boys and young men need the HPV vaccine, too

Source: www.mskcc.org Author: Memorial Sloan Kettering Cancer Center, News and Information Rich Delgrosso found the lump while shaving. It was on the left side of his neck and it seemed to grow bigger by the day. He made an appointment with his ear, nose, and throat doctor. “He said the odds were 50/50 that it was an infection,” recalls the 56-year-old father of two from Pleasantville, New York. “I asked, ‘What’s the other 50?’” It was a possibility no one wanted to hear: Cancer. Rich underwent a biopsy and learned he had squamous cell carcinoma that had originated on the base of his tongue. His cancer, the doctor told him, was caused by the human papillomavirus (HPV). Rich was shocked. “I knew HPV could cause cancer,” he says, “but I thought it was only cervical cancer in women.” It’s true that HPV, a sexually transmitted virus, does cause the majority of cervical cancer cases in women. But it can also cause a variety of cancers in men, too, some of which are on the rise. HPV led to a five-fold increase of head and neck cancers in young men from 2001 to 2017, according to data released at the 2021 American Society for Clinical Oncology annual meeting. Memorial Sloan Kettering’s David Pfister, a medical oncologist who cares for people with head and neck cancer, says these cancer cases are just now emerging in people infected with the virus many years ago. “Once the association between HPV infection and throat cancers [...]

Oral Cancer Foundation News Team - A2021-06-11T08:24:16-07:00June, 2021|Oral Cancer News|

Study finds major anti-inflammatory immune activity that favors oral cancer tumors

Source: medicalxpress.com Author: MELISA Institute A collaborative research led by immunologist Estefania Nova-Lamperti from the Universidad de Concepción (Chile), with a branch of researchers from MELISA Institute and other international academic centers, made progress in the understanding of molecular mechanisms preventing an effective antitumor immune response in oral cancer; The latter due to the production of chemical mediators that induce an anti-inflammatory regulatory response that favors tumor development through the vitamin D signaling pathway. The study was published in Frontiers in Immunology on May 7, 2021. Oral cancer, 90% of which corresponds to the squamous cell type, is a neoplasm with a high mortality and morbidity rate, mainly because the diagnosis is made in late stages when metastases already exist, and where treatment produces serious physical and functional sequel among survivors. It is well known that the immune system plays a key role in the development of cancer, either by stimulating pathways that play an anti-tumor role or, conversely, by generating an anti-inflammatory environment that allows the tumor to grow and be spread. The main biological agents of the immune system are lymphocytes or T cells, which have different functions or phenotypes. In cancer, the presence of regulatory T cells (Tregs) and helper T cells type 2 (Th2) are associated with a worse prognosis, whereas the responses of helper T cells type 1 (Th1) within tumors, in general, show a better prognosis. Dr. Nova-Lamperti points out that a key question in oral cancer is how an anti-inflammatory microenvironment is induced, [...]

Oral Cancer Foundation News Team - A2021-06-10T07:40:12-07:00June, 2021|Oral Cancer News|