radiation

A new method for fighting ‘cold’ tumors

Source: www.eurekalert.org Author: news release University of Colorado Anschutz Medical Campus Not all cancerous tumors are created equal. Some tumors, known as "hot" tumors, show signs of inflammation, which means they are infiltrated with T cells working to fight the cancer. Those tumors are easier to treat, as immunotherapy drugs can then amp up the immune response. "Cold" tumors, on the other hand, have no T-cell infiltration, which means the immune system is not stepping in to help. With these tumors, immunotherapy is of little use. It's the latter type of tumor that researchers Michael Knitz and radiation oncologist and University of Colorado Cancer Center member Sana Karam, MD, PhD, address in new research published this week in the Journal for ImmunoTherapy of Cancer. Working with mouse models in Karam's specialty area of head and neck cancers, Knitz and Karam studied the role of T cells in tumor treatment. "What we found is that the cells that normally tell the T cell, 'Hey, here's a tumor -- come and attack it,' are being silenced," Karam says. She and her team found that regulatory T cells (Tregs), a specialized T cell type that suppresses immune response, are essentially telling the T cells to stop fighting the cancer. "Tregs normally serve as an important balance in a healthy immune system," Knitz says. "They prevent autoimmune disease and put the brakes on the T cells when needed. However, in many tumors, Tregs are too numerous or overly suppressive, bringing the T cell response [...]

Oral Cancer Foundation News Team - A2021-04-24T12:59:36-07:00April, 2021|Oral Cancer News|

Patients with oral cancer may get relief from dry mouth through MU research

Source: www.columbiamissourian.com Author: Tia Alphonse Gary Rackers bit his tongue one night, and it began to bleed. Thinking it wasn’t serious, he waited a couple of weeks, but something still didn’t feel right. So, he asked his wife to take a look. She was shocked, Rackers said. His tongue was black. After seeing his family physician and a local ear, nose and throat doctor in Jefferson City, Rackers was referred to Ellis Fischel Cancer Center. There, he connected with a physician who specialized in surgical treatment for patients with head and neck cancers. He was diagnosed with squamous cell carcinoma — a common oral cancer. The doctor ended up surgically removing half of Rackers’s tongue and nearly all of his teeth, and he began radiation and chemotherapy treatments. Since then, Rackers said he‘s had 33 radiation treatments and three rounds of chemotherapy. He is pleased and proud of the work his physician did, he said. Because of her, he’s in the recovery phase: “I’m doing good...and I’m feeling good.” Many head and neck cancer patients like Rackers lose their ability to produce saliva after radiation treatment. He said it doesn’t affect him much during the day, but his mouth gets quite dry at night. Dry mouth frequently disturbs his sleep, he said, causing him to often fetch water or juice for relief. “If I could get through the night,” he said, the days are easy. MU researcher and former dentist Olga Baker hopes to help patients like Rackers by dedicating [...]

Oral Cancer Foundation News Team - A2021-02-04T20:59:31-07:00February, 2021|Oral Cancer News|

University of Cincinnati research unveils possible new combo therapy for head and neck cancer

Source: www.eurekalert.org Author: Research News, University of Cincinnati Head and neck cancer is the sixth most common cancer worldwide, and while effective treatments exist, sadly, the cancer often returns. Researchers at the University of Cincinnati have tested a new combination therapy in animal models to see if they could find a way to make an already effective treatment even better. Since they're using a Food and Drug Administration-approved drug to do it, this could help humans sooner than later. These findings are published in the journal Cancer Letters. Christina Wicker, PhD, a postdoctoral fellow in the lab of Vinita Takiar, MD, PhD, led this research which she says will hopefully extend the lives of patients one day. "Head and neck cancer, like any cancer, is truly life-altering," she says. "Head and neck cancer could impact your throat, tongue or nose, and patients often can't swallow, talk or eat; it truly takes away some of the most social, enjoyable parts of life." Researchers in this study combined radiation therapy with a drug (telaglenastat) that stops a key enzyme in a cell pathway that becomes altered in cancer cells, causing those cells to grow rapidly and resist treatment. Wicker says this drug has already been studied in multiple clinical trials to see if it could improve treatment of various cancers. "Until now, no one has examined if this drug has the potential to improve radiation treatment in head and neck cancer. Most importantly, this drug compound has been well tolerated by patients [...]

Oral Cancer Foundation News Team - A2021-01-23T11:06:52-07:00January, 2021|Oral Cancer News|

UK Innovators target nanoparticles at inoperable cancers

Source: www.politicshome.com Author: from Medicines Discovery Catapult At a point of critical clinical need for improved treatments for pancreatic and head and neck cancers, a partnership of healthcare innovators set out to revolutionise radiotherapy for inoperable, and the most difficult to treat tumours. With the aim of achieving a higher quality of life for those with unfavourable prognoses, this project, funded by Innovate UK, the UK’s innovation agency, brings together partners with a wealth of experience and specialist know-how in the areas of nanoparticle development, drug delivery and bioimaging. The pioneering work being conducted will target cancerous cells more selectively, enabling a reduced dose of radiation, which would lower the toxic effects a patient receives as a result. This targeted approach will employ Xerion Healthcare’s non-toxic radiosensitiser - this heightens the cells’ sensitivity to radiotherapy, increasing the likelihood of successful treatment while reducing the often devastating side effects. To ensure the nanoparticles carrying the therapeutic agent reaches deep inside the tumour, Active Needle Technology’s unique delivery system conveys the treatment to the cancerous cells with the assistance of ultrasonic vibrations, which not only allow accurate placement, but also enables an optimal distribution throughout the tumour and limits damage of healthy cells in the process. Medicines Discovery Catapult’s (MDC) advanced pre-clinical imaging suite and state-of-the-art expertise in complex medicines validation will undertake in-life imaging of the nanoparticle distribution, allowing the partners to validate its biodistribution in tumour and across other tissues and organs. Ian Quirk, CEO of Active Needle Technology said: [...]

Oral Cancer Foundation News Team - A2020-12-19T08:18:56-07:00December, 2020|Oral Cancer News|

FDA clears IND application for cell therapy to treat radiotherapy-induced dry mouth

Source: www.healio.com Author: staff The FDA cleared an investigational new drug application for a mesenchymal stromal cell therapy to treat radiotherapy-induced xerostomia, also known as dry mouth. Researchers at University of Wisconsin Carbone Cancer Center developed the therapy, which uses the patient’s interferon-gamma activated marrow stromal cells. Xerostomia is a one of the most common adverse effects of radiation therapy for head and neck cancers and may cause difficulties eating, speaking and sleeping, in addition to oral health complications. “There is a critical need for improved treatments for this condition,” Randy Kimple, MD, PhD, associate professor of human oncology at University of Wisconsin School of Medicine, said in a press release. “For most patients, the best care we can provide currently is to encourage them to eat specially prepared food, suck on hard sugar-free candies and carry a water bottle with them all day.” Kimple told Healio the therapy process involves the patient undergoing a bone marrow biopsy to harvest mesenchymal stromal cells. Kimple — who will lead the forthcoming phase 1 trial for the therapy — said the cells will be prepared by the Program for Advanced Cell Therapy's lab at UW Health's University Hospital. Patients will receive the therapy via injection into the submandibular gland after completion of radiation therapy. The phase 1 trial soon will begin enrolling up to 30 patients and will be conducted by University of Wisconsin School of Medicine and Public Health as a single-center study of patients treated at Carbone Cancer Center. Study [...]

Oral Cancer Foundation News Team - A2020-09-12T10:26:52-07:00September, 2020|Oral Cancer News|

UCM computer science professor researches use of AI in cancer treatment

Source: www.dailystarjournal.com Author: Sara Lawson New research by a University of Central Missouri faculty member uses an innovative Artificial Intelligence (AI) technique to allow physicians to predict which patients are at low risk of distant metastasis in order to help minimize severe side effects from radiation treatment. The research conducted by Zhiguo Zhou, assistant professor of computer science, is titled “Multifaceted radiomics for distant metastasis prediction in head-and-neck cancer.” Zhou’s research was published in the journal, Physics in Medicine and Biology, and subsequently reported in the July 2020 issue of Physics World. Zhou, who has explored AI in medicine for 10 years, joined the UCM faculty in 2019. He began working on this recently published study more than three years ago while serving in the Department of Radiation in oncology at the University of Texas Southwestern Medical Center in Dallas. One of his UT colleagues, Jing Wang, served as co-author on the journal article. Zhou said the research proposes a novel model for predicting metastasis in head-and-neck cancer after radiotherapy with “outstanding results.” It is a study he believes could provide a general framework which could be extended to predict treatment outcomes for primary cancers in other parts of the human body. While the research now undergoes a validation process that involves a multi-institutional prospective study, Zhou is hopeful that it can be applied in clinical settings within the next two to three years. “Nowadays, radiotherapy has become one of the most important treatment methods in cancer therapy,” Zhou said. [...]

Oral Cancer Foundation News Team - A2020-09-06T06:44:52-07:00September, 2020|Oral Cancer News|

Common causes of dysphagia in seniors may differ by sex, study finds

Source: www.mcknights.com Author: Alicia Lasek Common causes of swallowing problems may differ significantly between older men and women, according to physician researchers. In a two-year swallowing clinic study, neuromuscular and esophageal problems were the most frequent causes of dysphagia among 109 study participants, reported Jeremy Applebaum, M.D., from Johns Hopkins University. Many patients (16%) had either diverticula (a soft pouch in the esophagus that can collect food particles), reflux (14%) or scarring caused by radiation treatment (8%). These problems also were associated with significant quality-of-life burden, the researchers added. Causal differences were also found between the sexes. Men were more likely to have oropharyngeal dysphagia, a difficulty with initiating swallowing as food is introduced to the pharynx and esophagus from the mouth. In contrast, women were more likely to present with esophageal dysphagia, which can have several causes and is typically associated with the sensation of food sticking in the throat or chest after starting to swallow. Higher rates of smoking and head and neck cancer may explain the prevalence of oropharyngeal problems found in male participants, whereas the esophageal problems in women likely were due to the high prevalence of reflux disease among that cohort, the authors surmised. They did not find significant differences in cause between older age cohorts. Up to 33% of people age 65 and older are known to have swallowing problems due to physical changes, yet dysphasia also may be the result of underlying disease, the investigators said. “A complaint of dysphagia in older adults [...]

Oral Cancer Foundation News Team - A2020-07-28T10:27:19-07:00July, 2020|Oral Cancer News|

Surgery, radiation yield similar efficacy for early squamous cell carcinoma of lip

Source: www.healio.com Author: Earl Holland Jr. Both surgery and radiation therapy were beneficial methods of treating early-stage lip squamous cell carcinoma, according to findings presented at the American Academy of Dermatology virtual meeting. Kevin Phan, MD, of the dermatology department at Liverpool Hospital, Sydney, Australia, and Mahmoud Dibas, MD, of Sulaiman Al Rajhi Colleges, College of Medicine, Saudi Arabia, sought to examine the survival rates in low-stage lip squamous cell carcinoma (SCC) between patients who had surgery alone and patients who had radiation therapy alone. “Squamous cell carcinoma of the lip composes 25% to 30% of all oral cancers,” the authors wrote. “Lip SCC is often detected at an early stage, due to the highly visible location and slow growth pattern.” Results from the Surveillance, Epidemiology, and End Results database between 2010 and 2014 were analyzed. Overall survival and cancer-specific survival were measured. The researchers identified 900 patients with early-stage lip SCC who had received either radiation alone (36 patients) or surgery alone (864 patients). Patients who underwent surgical procedures had better overall survival and cancer-specific survival rates compared with patients who had radiation alone, the study found. The treatment modality did not have a significant effect on either survival rate; the radiation-alone group had an adjusted hazard ratio of 1.94 (95% CI; 0.83-4.53), while the surgery-alone group had an adjusted hazard ratio of 1.04 (95% CI; 0.07-15.55). “Our results support the notion that surgery and [radiation therapy] appear to be equally effective in treating early-stage lip SCC,” the researchers [...]

Oral Cancer Foundation News Team - A2020-07-08T03:32:43-07:00July, 2020|Oral Cancer News|

Less intense treatment safe for HPV+ throat cancer

Source: www.miragenews.com Author: public release, University of Pittsburgh School of Medicine A less intense treatment for human papillomavirus positive (HPV+) throat cancer—using robotic surgery followed by low-dose radiation—could provide as much benefit as standard higher-dose radiation and chemotherapy while preserving a patient’s throat function, and with potentially less toxicities, according to researchers at UPMC Hillman Cancer Center and Yale Cancer Center. The results of their randomized phase two clinical trial will be presented virtually this week at the American Society of Clinical Oncology (ASCO) annual meeting during the Head and Neck Oral Abstract Session (Abstract 6500). “These results present a promising deintensification approach that has proven to be safe in patients with intermediate risk, locally advanced oropharynx cancer,” said Robert Ferris, M.D., Ph.D., director, UPMC Hillman Cancer Center and a surgical oncologist specializing in head and neck cancer, who was lead investigator of the trial. The results are not yet published in a peer-reviewed journal. About 60% of oropharynx cancer, in which cancer cells form in the back of the throat, base of the tongue and tonsils, is associated with HPV infection. The incidence has been increasing in recent years, especially in individuals under the age of 45. Following robotic surgery, patients with HPV-associated throat cancer would typically undergo high dose radiation and chemotherapy. While robotic surgery allows for more precise and optimal preservation of the organs and surrounding tissue, there is still concern with the toxicities from the chemotherapy and consequences of tissue damage from radiation therapy, particularly in [...]

Oral Cancer Foundation News Team - A2020-05-30T06:43:41-07:00May, 2020|Oral Cancer News|

Novel intervention looks to improve timeliness, equity of head and neck cancer care delivery

Source: www.miragenews.com Author: staff report, Medical University of South Carolina Many factors go into surviving cancer. Hollings Cancer Center researcher Evan Graboyes, M.D., specializes in head and neck cancer, a disease with poor survival prospects despite intense therapy with combinations of surgery, radiation and chemotherapy. While head and neck cancer only accounts for 4% of all cancer cases each year in the US, it has a high mortality rate. The American Cancer Society estimates that more than 14,000 patients died from this disease in the U.S. in 2019. Overall, only 50% of head and neck cancer patients are alive at five years. Unfortunately, the mortality rate is even worse for African American head and neck cancer patients. That’s why researchers are looking for new strategies to improve patient survival and decrease racial disparities in outcomes for these patients. Graboyes and MUSC Hollings Cancer Center researchers Chanita Hughes-Halbert, Ph.D., Katherine Sterba, Ph.D., Hong Li, Ph.D., and Graham Warren, M.D., Ph.D., have teamed up to develop and test a novel intervention to improve the timeliness, equity and quality of head and neck cancer care delivery, which they think might one day be the key to improving survival for these patients. Funded by a $1.3 million 5-year grant from the National Cancer Institute, their study - Improving the Timeliness and Equity of Adjuvant Therapy Following Surgery for Head and Neck Cancer-started in September 2019 and built upon important research funded by grants from Hollings Cancer Center. Graboyes explained that for patients with advanced [...]

Oral Cancer Foundation News Team - A2020-04-11T06:04:04-07:00April, 2020|Oral Cancer News|