head and neck cancer

Researchers discover potential biomarkers to identify patients with head and neck cancer

Published on June 1, 2013 at 4:16 AMSource: news-medical.net Researchers from Fox Chase Cancer Center will present data at the 49th Annual Meeting of the American Society of Clinical Oncology on Saturday, June 1, which shows the discovery of potential biomarkers that may be used to identify patients with head and neck cancer whose tumors are unlikely to respond to treatment by the targeted therapy cetuximab-a type of monoclonal antibody. The FDA approved the drug, in combination with radiation or as a second-line drug after chemotherapy had failed, in 2006. In 2011, the drug was approved as a first-line treatment for metastatic disease, in combination with chemotherapy. "Targeted therapies should optimally be used in patients who are selected for sensitivity or the absence of sensitivity, and we've been handicapped by not knowing the resistance in head and neck cancers," says Barbara Burtness, MD, chief of head and neck medical oncology at Fox Chase and chair of the Eastern Cooperative Oncology Group (ECOG), a National Cancer Institute-funded team of researchers who organize and carry out clinical trials. Before cetuximab, head and neck cancer patients' only options were conventional platinum-based chemotherapy and radiation, says Burtness. But since tumors in different people may have different biologies, not all patients respond to same treatment in the same ways. Those whose tumors do not respond to cetuximab suffer the drug's side effects without gaining benefits. Biomarkers can help providers match appropriate treatments to disease. They may also provide inroads toward re-sensitizing tumors to treatment by [...]

Charlotte Parker2013-06-03T10:31:21-07:00June, 2013|Oral Cancer News|

PTEN loss, PIK3CA mutation predicted resistance to cetuximab in HNSCC

June 2, 2013Source: Helio.com CHICAGO — PTEN loss or PIK3CA mutation predicted resistance to treatment with cisplatin plus cetuximab in a cohort of patients with head and neck squamous cell carcinoma, according to phase 3 study results presented at the ASCO Annual Meeting. “Cetuximab is the only targeted therapy in use in head and neck cancer, and although it prolongs survival, the effects are modest. For patients who receive [cetuximab] in the setting of metastatic or recurrent disease, median survival remains less than 1 year,” Barbara Burtness, MD, a medical oncologist at Fox Chase Cancer Center who specializes in head and neck cancers and a HemOnc Today Editorial Board member, said in an interview. “In colon cancer, patients are tested for KRAS mutations to detect patients with upfront resistance to cetuximab, but KRAS mutation is rare in head and neck cancer, and we haven’t had a biomarker to separate the sensitive from resistant patients.” Burtness and colleagues compared cisplatin plus placebo vs. cisplatin plus cetuximab (Erbitux, Eli Lilly) in 117 patients. The researchers also assessed PIK3CA mutations and loss of PTEN expression in the cohort. Results indicated that 34% of tumors studied had a loss of PTEN expression and 4% had PIK3CA mutations in the three hotspots studied. Researchers did not observe any statistically significant differences in OS, PFS or overall response rates. However, among patients with PIK3CA and PTEN expression, median PFS was 4.2 months for those assigned to cetuximab vs. 2.9 months for those assigned to placebo (adjusted [...]

Charlotte Parker2013-06-03T10:20:56-07:00June, 2013|Oral Cancer News|

Big Data Unveils Exciting Head and Neck Cancer Targets

BioscienceTechnology.comCynthia FoxMonday, May 20, 2013 Genome sequencing of head and neck cancers may quickly—and soon—spur new therapies. There are 20 tumor types being studied by the massive, $100 million Cancer Genome Atlas (TCGA) project. Head and neck squamous cell carcinoma (HNSCC) is the eighth to be unveiled. The first, glioblastoma, has been cited in a whopping 2000-plus manuscripts. “That’s an enormous number of citations,” said University of North Carolina medical oncologist David Hayes at the recent American Association for Cancer Research (AACR) meeting. Yet, “the squamous cell carcinoma of the head and neck dataset is much, much bigger. “This is a very big project.” Much clinically relevant HNSCC data was released at AACR, and more will be released at the May American Society of Clinical Oncology meeting, Hayes said in an email. Hayes is national co-chair of TCGA's Data Analysis Subgroup. The frequently fatal HNSCC is the fifth most common cancer globally; sixth in the US. It is overwhelmingly associated with smoking (80% attributable risk). The rest is linked to an epidemic of the Human Papilloma Virus (HPV). Conducting an exhaustive series of genomic tests on tumor samples from 279 patients, the overarching find made by Hayes’ hundreds-strong TCGA group was that HNSCCs fall into four clinically relevant subtypes: basal, mesenchymal, atypical, and classical. Furthermore, there are surprising, major similarities between lung cancer and non-HPV (smoking) related HNSCCs, and between cervical cancer and HPV-related HNSCCs. For instance, in non-HPV-driven cancers, the group located more than 30 sites of significant “somatic [...]

Charlotte Parker2013-05-22T14:06:21-07:00May, 2013|Oral Cancer News|

Drug Designed To Restore Cell Suicide In HPV-Related Head And Neck Cancer

Article Date: 10 Apr 2013 - 1:00 PDT Source: Medical News Today Researchers have discovered a new mechanism by which the human papilloma virus (HPV) causes head and neck cancer, and they have designed a drug to block that mechanism. Though further research is needed, the new agent might offer a safer treatment for these tumors when combined with a tapered dose of standard chemotherapy. HPV-positive head and neck cancer has become three times more common since the 1970s, and it could reach epidemic levels in the future, say researchers at the Ohio State University Comprehensive Cancer Center - Arthur G. James Cancer Hospital and Richard J. Solove Research Institute (OSUCCC - James) who led the study. "We believe these findings will help meet the real need for more effective and safer therapy for a growing number of HPV-positive head and neck cancer patients," says principal investigator Dr. Quintin Pan, associate professor of otolaryngology at the OSUCCC - James. The study was published in the journal Oncogene. The research, which mainly used head and neck cancer cells, shows that a protein produced by the virus blocks a protein made by the host cell. The cell protein, called p300, regulates a gene called p53. This gene both controls cell division and protects the body against cancer by causing cells to die before they become malignant. By blocking the cell protein, HPV forces the host cell to live instead of die and to proliferate and form tumors. The prospective new drug, called [...]

Charlotte Parker2013-05-09T16:09:59-07:00May, 2013|Oral Cancer News|

Nearly 6 Percent Of Lung Cancer Tissue Samples From Non-Smokers Show Signs That HPV May Have Triggered The Tumors

Article Date: 12 Apr 2013 - 1:00 PDT Source: Medical News Today A common virus known to cause cervical and head and neck cancers may also trigger some cases of lung cancer, according to new research presented by Fox Chase Cancer Center at the AACR Annual Meeting 2013. Examining tissue samples from lung cancer patients, the researchers found that nearly 6% showed signs they may have been driven by a strain of human papillomavirus (HPV) known to cause cancer. If HPV indeed plays a role in lung cancer in some patients, the next step is to better understand those tumors so they can be treated more effectively. "The ultimate goal," says study author Ranee Mehra, MD, attending physician in medical oncology at Fox Chase, "is to determine if we can target our therapies to the specific characteristics of these tumors." Studies from Asia have shown that lung tumors are frequently infected with HPV. The pattern makes sense, explains Mehra - the lungs are located very near the head and neck, which are known to be at risk of tumors upon exposure to some strains of HPV. To investigate, she and her colleagues examined 36 tissue samples from people diagnosed with non-small cell lung cancer who had never smoked, part of the Fox Chase Cancer Center Biosample Repository. The reason they chose non-smokers, Mehra explains, is that smoking is a major cause of lung cancer - but in non-smokers, the explanation is often less obvious. The researchers found that 4 out [...]

Charlotte Parker2013-05-09T15:55:12-07:00May, 2013|Oral Cancer News|

Researchers Design Drug to Restore Cell Suicide in HPV-Related Head and Neck Cancer

Source: sciencedaily.comDate: April 8, 2013 Researchers have discovered a new mechanism by which the human papilloma virus (HPV) causes head and neck cancer, and they have designed a drug to block that mechanism. Though further research is needed, the new agent might offer a safer treatment for these tumors when combined with a tapered dose of standard chemotherapy. HPV-positive head and neck cancer has become three times more common since the 1970s, and it could reach epidemic levels in the future, say researchers at the Ohio State University Comprehensive Cancer Center -- Arthur G. James Cancer Hospital and Richard J. Solove Research Institute (OSUCCC -- James) who led the study. "We believe these findings will help meet the real need for more effective and safer therapy for a growing number of HPV-positive head and neck cancer patients," says principal investigator Dr. Quintin Pan, associate professor of otolaryngology at the OSUCCC -- James. The study was published in the journal Oncogene. The research, which mainly used head and neck cancer cells, shows that a protein produced by the virus blocks a protein made by the host cell. The cell protein, called p300, regulates a gene called p53. This gene both controls cell division and protects the body against cancer by causing cells to die before they become malignant. By blocking the cell protein, HPV forces the host cell to live instead of die and to proliferate and form tumors. The prospective new drug, called CH1iB, prevents the viral protein from binding [...]

Charlotte Parker2013-04-09T15:09:21-07:00April, 2013|Oral Cancer News|

Targeted Drugs No Help in Head and Neck Cancer

Source: medpagetoday.comAuthor: Charles Bankhead, Staff Writer, MedPage TodayDate: March 05, 2013 The addition of targeted agents to standard chemotherapy failed to improve efficacy in two different trials of advanced head and neck cancer. In one trial, patients given gefitinib (Iressa) in addition to docetaxel lived about a month longer than those who received docetaxel plus placebo. In the other trial, adding erlotinib (Tarceva) to cisplatin-based chemoradiation did not improve response rate or progression-free survival. However, neither regimen was associated with increased toxicity compared with standard chemotherapy, investigators reported online in the Journal of Clinical Oncology. Noting the lack of useful biomarkers to guide the use of targeted agents, the authors of an accompanying editorial said that experience to date suggests current strategies amount to "skimming the surface of a problem that is exceedingly complex." "It is unlikely that genomic sequencing alone will represent a panacea to the therapeutic challenges in squamous cell carcinoma of the head and neck," said Aaron R. Hansen, MBBS, and Lillian L. Siu, MD, of Princess Margaret Cancer Center in Toronto. "Comprehensive characterization that encompasses a broader omics-based molecular evaluation, as well as immune function assessments, is urgently needed." The rationale for the gefitinib and erlotinib trials came from evidence that the drugs targeting epidermal growth factor receptors (EGFR) have synergism with conventional chemotherapeutic agents, have radiosensitizing properties, and have demonstrated modest activity as monotherapy in some clinical studies. Cetuximab (Erbitux), another EGFR inhibitor, has been approved for use with radiation therapy or as monotherapy [...]

Charlotte Parker2013-03-07T14:25:20-07:00March, 2013|Oral Cancer News|

HPV vaccine issue returns to legislature

Source: abcnews4.com Date: January 14, 2013 by Stacy Jacobson CHARLESTON, S.C. (WCIV) -- A local state representative will introduce a bill that would give middle school students better accessibility to information about the Human Papilloma Virus vaccine and to the vaccine itself. Gov. Nikki Haley vetoed the bill last year. But lawmakers wanted to try again. HPV can cause cervical cancer, as well as head and neck cancer, doctors said. Therese Speer is a mother of three, and grandmother of four. She knew what it was like to worry as a parent. "More information is always a benefit to parents. The more you know, the more informed decision you can make," Speer said. She said she supports a new bill called the Cervical Cancer Prevention Act. Rep. Bakari Sellers (D-90th District) proposed it. "The CDC just stated the cost of cervical cancer in South Carolina is upwards of $25 million. This is something we can head off," Sellers said. The bill would make information about the HPV vaccine more available to seventh grade students. The bill would also allow the South Carolina Department of Health and Environmental Control to offer the vaccine through school. "When that information is provided and parents have opportunity to speak to pediatrician about this vaccine, they overwhelmingly accept it," MUSC gynecologic oncologist Dr. Jennifer Young-Pierce said. Officials said the bill had no mandates, only options. "Too often, people get info from friend or Internet that doesn't have the most up-to-date information. This is requiring us to provide information [...]

Charlotte Parker2013-01-16T11:27:50-07:00January, 2013|Oral Cancer News|

The effect of treating institution on outcomes in head and neck cancer

Source: American Academy of Otolaryngology - Head and Neck Surgery Alexandria, VA — Patients with head and neck cancer receiving radiation treatment at an academic center have a higher survival rate than those receiving treatment at a community center, according to a study in the December 2012 issue of Otolaryngology–Head and Neck Surgery. "Despite similar rates of treatment completion and rate of treatment breaks between groups, patients treated in academic centers had more advanced cancer but better survival," the authors state in their conclusion. The study evaluated differences in patient characteristics, treatment, and cancer outcomes in the head and neck cancer population at the University of Minnesota from 2002 through 2008. Data were gathered on demographics, general medical data, tumor variables, insurance type, marital status and health behaviors. The study analyzed 355 patients with mucosal head and neck cancer treated with radiation therapy from 2002 to 2008. One hundred forty-five (41%) received radiation treatment at community hospitals, and 210 (59%) were treated at academic hospitals. Within the academic hospitals group, 197 underwent radiation at the University of Minnesota, and 13 received radiation at an alternative academic center. Both treatment groups shared similar characteristics in regard to sex, comorbidity, marital status, work status, insurance, and alcohol use. However, the community group had more current smokers and slightly older patients on average. Patients in the academic group were more likely to live in an urban location and had a higher median income. Patients undergoing radiation treatment at university centers had significantly more advanced [...]

Charlotte Parker2012-12-07T12:47:56-07:00December, 2012|Oral Cancer News|

First gene therapy study in human salivary gland shows promise

Source: National Institutes of Health (NIH) Date: Monday, November 5, 2012 Gene therapy can be performed safely in the human salivary gland, according to scientists at the National Institute of Dental and Craniofacial Research (NIDCR), part of the National Institutes of Health. This finding comes from the first-ever safety, or Phase I, clinical study of gene therapy in a human salivary gland. Its results, published this week in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, also show that the transferred gene, Aquaporin-1, has great potential to help head and neck cancer survivors who battle with chronic dry mouth. Aquaporin-1 encodes a protein that naturally forms pore-like water channels in the membranes of cells to help move fluid, such as occurs when salivary gland cells secrete saliva into the mouth. These initial results clear the way for additional gene therapy studies in the salivary glands. Although sometimes overlooked, salivary glands present an ideal target for gene therapy. They are easily accessible and, once a gene is introduced, it has no obvious escape route into the bloodstream, where it can have unintended consequences. “You cannot imagine how fulfilling it is to jot down an idea on a napkin in 1991 and then see it enter a clinical trial and help people.,” said Bruce Baum, D.M.D., Ph.D., lead author on the study and recently retired NIDCR scientist who spent the last 21 years moving gene therapy in the salivary glands from the research bench to the clinic. “Can a scientist ask for anything [...]

Charlotte Parker2012-11-06T14:45:46-07:00November, 2012|Oral Cancer News|