immunotherapy – Page 6 – Oral Cancer News

Immunotherapies Form New Frontier in Treating Head and Neck Cancers

Source: OncLive.com Date: January 2nd, 2017 In August 2016, the FDA approved pembrolizumab (Keytruda) for patients with platinum-refractory squamous cell carcinoma of the head and neck (SCCHN).1 Not only was it the first immunotherapy approved for head and neck cancer (HNC), but it marked the first new drug approval for HNC in the United States in 20 years. “Now we have an agent that really changes the paradigm—a new class of treatment—and we are seeing amazing benefit in some patients,” said Tanguy Seiwert, MD, during an OncLive Peer Exchange® panel held during the 2016 European Society for Medical Oncology (ESMO) Annual Meeting. Less than a month later, the menu of immunotherapy options expanded as the FDA approved nivolumab (Opdivo) for the treatment of patients with recurrent or metastatic SCCHN with disease progression on or after a platinum-based therapy. During the Peer Exchange, the panelists provided an overview of the immunotherapy terrain in HNC, a discussion that was filled with considerable hope and excitement. “When we try immunotherapies in the second-line setting, we see objective responses—sometimes deep, clinically meaningful, extremely durable responses—and we’re beginning to think that maybe, on some occasions, we may be able to cure patients with relapsed metastatic head and neck cancer,” said Kevin Harrington, MD, PhD. This is especially remarkable since such patients have generally had a survival of ≤1 year. The panelists concurred that the care of patients with HNC will evolve significantly over the next 5 to 10 years, as the tip of the immunotherapy [...]

Charlotte Parker2017-01-11T16:58:01-07:00January, 2017|Oral Cancer News|

Blood-borne HPV antibodies indicate head, neck cancer prognosis

Source: medicalxpress.com Author: provided by Brown University People with head and neck cancers with evidence of human papillomavirus (HPV) infection generally have a better prognosis than people without evidence of infection. A new study in JAMA Oncology suggests that to produce a strong, reliable prognostic signal, all that's needed is a blood serum test for two specific HPV antibodies, rather than lab work on a biopsy. Further, the researchers said, the study shows that this blood-based biomarker is predictive of outcome for all types of head and neck cancer. The human papillomavirus causes not only cervical cancer but also cancers of the head and neck. Credit: National Cancer Institute "What this adds is that it helps us know how best to measure clinically the HPV contribution to this disease," said study senior author Karl Kelsey, a professor of epidemiology and of pathology and laboratory medicine at Brown University. Kelsey collaborated with lead author Heather Nelson of the University of Minnesota Masonic Cancer Center in making the findings. Moreover, Nelson, Kelsey and their colleagues wrote, referring to the common HPV16 strain of the virus: "These data are among the first to demonstrate a convincing relationship between HPV16 and improved patient survival for tumors of the larynx and oral cavity." Appraising antibodies The study examined blood serum samples and five-year survival rates among more than 1,000 Boston-area head and neck cancer patients diagnosed between 1999 and 2011. Overall, those who tested positive for antibodies to the oncogenic HPV proteins E6 [...]

Oral Cancer Foundation News Team - A2016-12-11T09:48:32-07:00December, 2016|Oral Cancer News|

I get by with help from my friends: Maintaining immune cells in head and neck cancer

Source: www.eurekalert.org Author: Medical University of South Carolina In an article published September 22, 2016 in Frontiers in Immunology, researchers at the Medical University of South Carolina (MUSC) and the Ralph H. Johnson VA Medical Center report that inhibiting prostaglandin production slows the progression of premalignant lesions to head and neck squamous cell carcinoma (HNSCC). Preclinical studies showed that treatment of premalignant lesions with indomethacin, a nonsteroidal anti-inflammatory drug (NSAID) similar to aspirin, increased the presence of immune cells and lessened tumor burden. Cancers of the head and neck begin with lesions in the oral cavity, including the larynx, pharynx, throat, lips, mouth, salivary glands, and nasal passages. Although the incidence of HNSCC has been on the decline over the past several decades, the National Cancer Institute reports that approximately 3% of all cancers in the U.S. result from HNSCC, with men being diagnosed twice as often as women. Treatment for HNSCC includes surgical removal and chemo-radiation treatment; however, these interventions often fail, and patients have a five-year survival rate of only 50%. It is critical to determine better treatment options for HNSCC patients. One way researchers at MUSC are trying to improve the treatment of HNSCC is by enhancing the body's own immune system to attack the tumor. "There's a lot of effort to stimulate immune reactivity using immunotherapy. The problem with that is cancer can protect itself against the immune defenses. Head and neck cancer is notorious for that," said immunologist M. Rita Young, Ph.D., senior author for [...]

Oral Cancer Foundation News Team - A2016-12-01T14:54:58-07:00December, 2016|Oral Cancer News|

Can your own immune system kill cancer?

Source: www.cnn.com Author: Jacqueline Howard There was another big win in the advancement of immunotherapy treatments for cancer this week. The Food and Drug Administration approved an immunotherapy drug called Keytruda, which stimulates the body's immune system, for the first-line treatment of patients with metastatic non-small-cell lung cancer. In other words, the drug could be the very first treatment a patient receives for the disease, instead of chemotherapy. Keytruda is the only immunotherapy drug approved for first-line treatment for these patients. So it seems, the future of cancer care may be in our own immune systems, but how exactly does it work, and what are its pros and cons? "It's certainly going to become an independent way of treating cancers," said Dr. Philip Greenberg, head of immunology at the Fred Hutchinson Cancer Research Center in Seattle, during a Q&A session at the International Cancer Immunotherapy Conference in New York in September. "We always talk about the three pillars of cancer therapy -- radiation therapy, chemotherapy and surgery -- and it's become quite clear now that there's going to be a fourth pillar, which is immunotherapy," he said. "There are times where it will be used alone, and there will be times that it will be used in conjunction with the other therapies, but there's very little to question that this is going to be a major part of the way cancers are treated from now on, going forward." Here's a look at the past, present and future of cancer immunotherapy. It [...]

Charlotte Parker2016-10-26T09:42:45-07:00October, 2016|Oral Cancer News|

Immunotherapy drug a ‘gamechanger’ for head and neck cancer

Source: www.theguardian.com Author: staff An immunotherapy drug hailed as a potential gamechanger in the treatment of cancer could soon offer new hope to patients with currently untreatable forms of the disease. Nivolumab outperformed chemotherapy significantly in keeping relapsed head and neck cancer patients alive. Photograph: Alamy Nivolumab was found to extend the lives of relapsed patients diagnosed with head and neck cancers who had run out of therapy options. After a year of treatment, 36% of trial patients treated with the drug were still alive compared with 17% of those given standard chemotherapy. Trial participants treated with nivolumab typically survived for 7.5 months, and some for longer. Middle-range survival for patients on chemotherapy was 5.1 months. The phase-three study, the last stage in the testing process before a new treatment is licensed, provided the first evidence of a drug improving survival in this group of patients. Prof Kevin Harrington, from the Institute of Cancer Research, London, who led the British arm of the international trial, said: “Nivolumab could be a real gamechanger for patients with advanced head and neck cancer. This trial found that it can greatly extend life among a group of patients who have no existing treatment options, without worsening quality of life. “Once it has relapsed or spread, head and neck cancer is extremely difficult to treat. So it’s great news that these results indicate we now have a new treatment that can significantly extend life, and I’m keen to see it enter the clinic [...]

Oral Cancer Foundation News Team - A2016-10-09T14:08:46-07:00October, 2016|Oral Cancer News|

HPV is changing the face of head and neck cancers

Source: www.healio.comAuthor: Christine Cona A drastic increase in the number of HPV-associated oropharynx cancers, particularly those of the tonsil and base of tongue, has captured the attention of head and neck oncologists worldwide. In February, at the Multidisciplinary Head and Neck Cancer Symposium in Chandler, Ariz., Maura Gillison, MD, PhD, professor and Jeg Coughlin Chair of Cancer Research at The Ohio State University in Columbus, presented data that showed that the proportion of all head and neck squamous cell cancers that were of the oropharynx — which are most commonly HPV-positive cancers — increased from 18% in 1973 to 32% in 2005. Maura Gillison, MD, PhD, Jeg Coughlin Chair of Cancer Research at The Ohio State University, said screening for HPV in the head and neck is years behind cervical screening for HPV. In addition, studies from the United States, Europe, Denmark and Australia indicate that HPV-positive patients have a more than twofold increased cancer survival than HPV-negative patients, according to Gillison. With the rising incidence of HPV-related oropharynx cancers, it will soon be the predominant type of cancer in the oral or head and neck region, according to Andy Trotti, MD, director of radiation oncology clinical research, H. Lee Moffitt Cancer Center & Research Institute, in Tampa, Fla. “We should be focusing on HPV-related oropharyngeal cancer because it will dominate the field of head and neck cancers for many years,” he said during an interview with HemOnc Today. “It is certainly an important population for which to continue to [...]

Charlotte Parker2016-06-03T11:11:05-07:00June, 2016|Oral Cancer News|

Checkpoint inhibitors seen to show potential of immunotherapy in several cancer studies

Source: immuno-oncologynews.com Author: Magdalena Kegel Several new checkpoint inhibitors — a class of immunotherapy drugs used in cancer — continue to show beneficial effects in numerous cancer types, according to data presented at the recent American Association for Cancer Research Annual Meeting in New Orleans. Investigated checkpoint inhibitors confirmed earlier results showing evidence of efficacy in melanoma, and also suggested that this class of immunotherapies, which trigger a person’s immune system to attack cancer, might work in patients suffering from certain head and neck cancers. One of the studies, CheckMate-141, exploring the checkpoint blocker nivolumab (Opdivo) in patients with squamous cell carcinoma of the head and neck, was stopped early after 36 percent of the 361 patients survived for one year — an increase of more than 100 percent compared to patients receiving other treatments. Squamous cell carcinoma is usually treated with platinum-based chemotherapy, but the effects are often temporary as the cancer tends to return. Moreover, patients who fail to fully recover after chemotherapy are generally resistant to further treatment. Maura Gillison from Ohio State University, who presented the CheckMate-141 data, said that no effective treatments have been approved for patients with this kind of cancer in over a decade. “I’ve treated head and neck cancers for more than twenty years, and this is the first time I’ve had a drug to go to for patients that have become resistant to first-line treatment,” she said in a press release. Dr. Emma King, a Cancer Research UK-funded head and neck [...]

Oral Cancer Foundation News Team - A2016-05-04T07:55:52-07:00May, 2016|Oral Cancer News|

BMS gets US breakthrough status for head & neck cancer

Source: pharmatimes.com Author: Selina McKee US regulators have awarded Bristol-Myers Squibb’s immunotherapy Opdivo a breakthrough designation for the potential indication of recurrent or metastatic squamous cell carcinoma of the head and neck (SCCHN). The move, which should help expedite the drug’s development and review, comes after preliminary clinical evidence indicated it could offer a substantial survival benefit to patients with the condition who have already received platinum-based therapy. A first look at the data from the Phase III CheckMate-141 trial, stopped early in January 2016 after meeting its primary endpoint of overall survival, showed that patients treated with Opdivo (nivolumab) experienced a 30 percent reduction in the risk of death compared to the investigator’s choice of therapy (methotrexate, docetaxel, or cetuximab), with a median overall survival of 7.5 months versus to 5.1 months. Safety signals were also looking good, with treatment-related adverse events (TRAEs) of any grade occurring in 58.9 percent of patients on Opdivo versus 77.5 percent of patients on investigator’s choice. Grade 3-4 TRAEs were reported in 13.1 percent of patients on Opdivo compared to 35.1 percent taking the investigator's choice, while two drug-related deaths were reported as related to Opdivo (pneumonitis and hypercalcaemia), and one Grade 5 event of lung infection in the comparator arm. The findings are particularly pertinent given the particularly bleak outlook for patients whose disease has progressed after platinum therapy and lack of systemic therapies to improve survival, and thus significant unmet medical need for new options. Head and neck cancer is the [...]

Oral Cancer Foundation News Team - A2016-04-27T07:39:35-07:00April, 2016|Oral Cancer News|

Study supports immunotherapy/radiation combo in head and neck cancer

Source: www.onclive.com Author: Laura Panjwani There may be potential synergy between radiation therapy, given with or without chemotherapy, and immune checkpoint inhibitors in patients with squamous cell carcinoma of the head and neck (SCCHN), according to results of a prospective study. The study, which was presented at the the 2016 Multidisciplinary Head and Neck Cancer Symposium in February 2016, examined blood samples from 16 consecutive patients with SCCHN undergoing curative-intent radiation therapies. Samples were obtained at week 1 and week 6 to 7. Patients received a median of 70 Gy for disease in the oropharynx (n = 12, 75%), nasopharynx (n = 2, 12%), larynx (n = 1, 6%), or oral cavity (n = 1, 6%). The majority of patients had stage IV disease that was metastatic to regional lymph nodes and received concurrent platinum-based chemotherapy. The analysis found that, during radiation treatment, circulating CD8-positive T-effector cells increased (P = .01), as did CD4-positive PD-1–positive cells (P = .02), CD8-positive LAG3-positive cells (P = .02), and regulatory T cells (P = .04). sPD-L1 levels also increased, mirroring increases in CD8-positive T cells over the course of therapy (P = .047). While the extent to which these systemic changes reflect changes in the tumor microenvironment is unknown, the study authors noted that these findings support the “complex immunologic effects of fractionated chemoradiation therapy and mechanisms for potential synergy between chemotherapy, radiation treatment, and immunotherapy in SCCHN.” To learn more about the impact of the research, OncLive spoke to one of the [...]

Oral Cancer Foundation News Team - A2016-04-11T08:00:24-07:00April, 2016|Oral Cancer News|

Why a Cure For Cancer Is Possible

Source: www.fortune.comAuthor: Robert Mulroy Cutting drug prices is not out of the question. A crapshoot is defined as a risky or uncertain matter; something that could produce a good or bad result. President Obama’s moonshot on cancer is different in terms of its greater complexity and higher moral purpose — but unfortunately, not in its probability of success. The Audacity of Scope President Obama has asked Congress for $755 million to “focus” on immunotherapy, combination therapy, vaccines that prevent cancer causing viruses, and early detection techniques. According to Vice President Joe Biden, who will coordinate 13 government institutions in this research, “Our job is to clear out the bureaucratic hurdles, and let science happen.” It is hard not to welcome such an initiative. Cancer has deposed heart disease as the number one killer in 22 American states. Experts project the number of global cancer cases will double in the next 15 years. But we are better at projecting the demand for innovation than we are at producing it; and we are even better at making promises we can’t keep and polices that don’t work. President Roosevelt created the National Cancer Institute in 1937. Nixon declared a “war on cancer” with the National Cancer Act in 1971. The Bush administration spoke in 2003 of spending $600 million per year to rid the world of cancer by 2015. Obama and Biden made campaign promises to fight cancer in 2008, and should be lauded for trying to keep them, but their approach needs [...]

Charlotte Parker2016-03-01T10:52:43-07:00March, 2016|Oral Cancer News|