tumor – Oral Cancer News

Absent p53, oral cancers recruit and reprogram nerves to fuel tumor growth

Source: medicalxpress.com Author: by University of Texas M. D. Anderson Cancer Center Loss of an important tumor-suppressing gene allows head and neck cancer to spin off signals to nearby nerves, changing their function and recruiting them to the tumor, where they fuel growth and cancer progression, researchers from The University of Texas MD Anderson Cancer Center report in the journal Nature today. By cracking the mechanism that launches neuronal invasion of tumors, a known marker of poor prognosis for patients, the team has uncovered possible avenues to block the process, including the use of drugs commonly used to treat blood pressure and irregular heartbeat. "Tons of studies show that patients who have lots of nerves in their tumor are doing worse—recurrence rates are higher, survival is shorter," says co-first author Moran Amit, M.D., Ph.D., assistant professor of Head and Neck Surgery. "Nerve endings found in surgically removed tumors can't be easily characterized or tracked back to their source, so it's been a neglected field, a neglected hallmark of cancer." "When surgeons remove head and neck cancers and find a high degree of nerve invasion, post-surgical radiation sometimes is effective," said co-senior author Jeffrey Myers, M.D., Ph.D., chair of Head and Neck Surgery. "But we really haven't understood whether the tumor was growing into the nerves or the nerve growing into the tumor and what signaling drove those interactions." Co-senior author George Calin, M.D., Ph.D., professor of Experimental Therapeutics and an expert on non-coding RNAs added that the paper "puts together [...]

Oral Cancer Foundation News Team - A2020-02-13T08:56:02-07:00February, 2020|Oral Cancer News|

Oral HPV DNA Persistence After Head and Neck Cancer Treatment Linked to Disease Progression

Source: genomeweb Date: May 2, 2019 Author: Staff Reporter NEW YORK (GenomeWeb) – Persistent traces of human papilloma virus DNA after treatment for HPV-positive head and neck cancer is linked to an increased recurrence risk, a new study has found. Head and neck cancers affect some 53,000 people in the US each year, according to the National Cancer Institute, and HPV has been implicated in many of those cases. In general, patients with HPV-positive tumors have higher survival rates than those with HPV-negative tumors. A team of MD Anderson Cancer Center-led researchers collected oral rinse samples from nearly 400 patients with head and neck squamous cell carcinomas at diagnosis and as their treatments progressed. As they reported today in JAMA Oncology, the researchers found that viral load in patients' oral samples broadly decreased as they underwent therapy. But some patients' viral loads persisted despite treatment, which was linked to an increased risk of cancer recurrence and death, the researchers reported. "Our data suggest that a subset of patients with HPV-positive HNSCC at high risk for locoregional recurrence can be identified by detection of persistent, oral HPV after treatment," MD Anderson's Maura Gillison and her colleagues write in their paper. The researchers enrolled 396 patients with oral cavity, oropharyngeal, or unknown primary HNSCC in their study. They tested the patients' tumors for the presence of 13 high-risk HPV types using an mRNA expression test and found 202 patients had HPV-positive tumors. At the same time, the researchers collected oral rinse samples from patients [...]

Charlotte Parker2019-05-06T10:20:43-07:00May, 2019|Oral Cancer News|

Tumor Mutational Burden Predicts Who Will Respond to Immunotherapy

The advent of immunotherapy has significantly shifted the treatment paradigm and prognosis for multiple advanced-stage cancers. In cancers like metastatic melanoma and non–small cell lung cancer (NSCLC), the treatment class has greatly improved survival rates. However, not all patients respond to the treatments, highlighting the need for predictive biomarkers to determine which patients will benefit. Early reports and small cohorts have suggested high tumor mutational burden being associated with improved clinical response, and now a large study has confirmed the hypothesis. “Given the potential toxicities of immunotherapy and the highly variable response to immune checkpoint inhibitors, as well as the significant economic cost of these agents, there is an urgent need for biomarkers that can predict immunotherapy response,” explained the researchers of the study. Looking at data from more than 1000 patients with stage IV or metastatic disease for which immune checkpoint inhibitors are approved, including NSCLC, melanoma, renal cell carcinoma, bladder cancer, and head and neck cancer, researchers found that higher somatic tumor mutational burden is associated with improved overall survival. Patients were treated with atezolizumab, avelumab, durvalumab, ipilimumab, nivolumab, pembrolizumab, or tremelimumab. Tumor mutational burden was calculated by normalizing the number of somatic nonsynonymous mutations to the total number of megabases sequenced, and noting that mutational load varies across tumor types, the researchers defined tumor mutational burden within each cancer type. The authors found that, across all cancers, more mutations translated into improved overall survival. The authors noted that the association remained even when removing NSCLC and melanoma [...]

Charlotte Parker2019-01-22T11:03:57-07:00January, 2019|Oral Cancer News|

An HPV-E6/E7 immunotherapy plus PD-1 checkpoint inhibition results in tumor regression and reduction in PD-L1 expression

Source: www.nature.comAuthor: A E Rice, Y E Latchman, J P Balint, J H Lee, E S Gabitzsch and F R Jones We have investigated if immunotherapy against human papilloma virus (HPV) using a viral gene delivery platform to immunize against HPV 16 genes E6 and E7 (Ad5 [E1-, E2b-]-E6/E7) combined with programmed death-ligand 1 (PD-1) blockade could increase therapeutic effect as compared to the vaccine alone. Ad5 [E1-, E2b-]-E6/E7 as a single agent induced HPV-E6/E7 cell-mediated immunity. Immunotherapy using Ad5 [E1-, E2b-]-E6/E7 resulted in clearance of small tumors and an overall survival benefit in mice with larger established tumors. When immunotherapy was combined with immune checkpoint blockade, an increased level of anti-tumor activity against large tumors was observed. Analysis of the tumor microenvironment in Ad5 [E1-, E2b-]-E6/E7 treated mice revealed elevated CD8+ tumor infiltrating lymphocytes (TILs); however, we observed induction of suppressive mechanisms such as programmed death-ligand 1 (PD-L1) expression on tumor cells and an increase in PD-1+ TILs. When Ad5 [E1-, E2b-]-E6/E7 immunotherapy was combined with anti-PD-1 antibody, we observed CD8+ TILs at the same level but a reduction in tumor PD-L1 expression on tumor cells and reduced PD-1+ TILs providing a mechanism by which combination therapy favors a tumor clearance state and a rationale for pairing antigen-specific vaccines with checkpoint inhibitors in future clinical trials. *This news story was resourced by the Oral Cancer Foundation, and vetted for appropriateness and accuracy.

Charlotte Parker2015-09-08T09:28:07-07:00September, 2015|Oral Cancer News|

Cancer patient has his mouth and tongue rebuilt using tissue from arm

Source: www.dailymail.co.uk Author: Madlen Davies When David Barwell was diagnosed with the advanced mouth cancer, he feared he would never speak or eat again. But now, British surgeons have rebuilt his entire oral cavity using tissue from his arm, in a 15-hour operation. They had to remove a tumour the size of a plum from his throat, forcing them to cut away the bottom of his mouth and tongue. But medics were able to use skin and blood vessels from his arm to rebuild the oral cavity, and re-model his tongue. The operation will allow him to eat, drink and one day speak again, they hope. British-born Mr Barwell, who was living in Poland when he was diagnosed, travelled across Europe in a campervan to come back to Britain for treatment. Now recovering from the operation, he and his wife of 28 years, Barbara, have praised the NHS and its staff as 'incredible'. Mrs Barwell, a 67-year-old mother-of-one, was fought back tears as she thanked the NHS for its work. She said: 'These people are amazing. After working for 15 hours to save David's life and rebuild his mouth the surgeon, Mr McVicar, called me personally to tell me the operation had worked, and I could not believe it. I have never seen treatment so good, not anywhere in Europe.' Mrs Barwell, who grew up in Poland but moved to Nottingham in the 1980s to study, added: 'We used to make plans, both as a family and a business, but now we just can't. [...]

Oral Cancer Foundation News Team - A2015-07-07T09:16:54-07:00July, 2015|Oral Cancer News|

DNA shed from head and neck tumors detected in blood and saliva

Source: www.medicalexpress.comAuthor: Wang et al., Science Translational Medicine (2015) Schematic showing the shedding of tumor DNA from head and neck cancers into the saliva or plasma. Tumors from various anatomic locations shed DNA fragments containing tumor-specific mutations and human papillomavirus DNA into the saliva or the circulation. The detectability of tumor DNA in the saliva varied with anatomic location of the tumor, with the highest sensitivity for oral cavity cancers. The detectability in plasma varied much less in regard to the tumor’s anatomic location. Credit: Wang et al., Science Translational Medicine (2015) On the hunt for better cancer screening tests, Johns Hopkins scientists led a proof of principle study that successfully identified tumor DNA shed into the blood and saliva of 93 patients with head and neck cancer. A report on the findings is published in the June 24 issue of Science Translational Medicine. "We have shown that tumor DNA in the blood or saliva can successfully be measured for these cancers," says Nishant Agrawal, M.D., associate professor of otolaryngology—head and neck surgery—and of oncology at the Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine. "In our study, testing saliva seemed to be the best way to detect cancers in the oral cavity, and blood tests appeared to find more cancers in the larynx, hypopharynx and oropharynx. However, combining blood and saliva tests may offer the best chance of finding cancer in any of those regions." Agrawal explains that inborn genetic predispositions for most head and neck cancers are rare, but [...]

Oral Cancer Foundation News Team - A2015-06-25T16:43:35-07:00June, 2015|Oral Cancer News|

Study finds the prognosis of HPV positive tumors in head and neck cancer patients to vary depending on site

Source: sciencecodex.comAuthor: Staff Vienna, Austria: Patients with cancer of the throat and who are positive for the Human Papilloma virus (HPV+) have a good prognosis, but until now the effect of being HPV+ on the prognosis of tumours located elsewhere in the head and neck was unknown. Danish researchers have now shown that HPV status appears to have no prognostic effect on the outcome of primary radiotherapy in head and neck cancer outside the oropharynx (the part of the throat located behind the mouth, and which contains the soft palate and the base of the tongue), the ESTRO 33 congress will hear today (Sunday). Presenting her results to the congress, Dr Pernille Lassen, MD, PhD, from the Aarhus University Hospital, Aarhus, Denmark, will say that head and neck cancers located outside the oropharynx should probably not be treated with the less intensive treatment strategies that are currently being investigated in clinical trials for HPV+ oropharyngeal tumours. "HPV status has a very potent prognostic impact in radiotherapy for oropharyngeal cancer, and DNA from HPV has been found in all types of head and neck cancer, although it is far more common in oropharyngeal tumours. We decided to investigate the impact of HPV status in non-oropharyngeal cancers in the DAHANCA database, which includes all Danish head and neck cancer patients," Dr Lassen will say. The researchers searched the database to identify patients with locally advanced cancers who had been treated primarily with radiotherapy, and identified 1606 patients with larynx and pharynx carcinomas. Overall, [...]

Charlotte Parker2014-04-07T12:38:17-07:00April, 2014|Oral Cancer News|

Michael Douglas: It took doctors nine months to figure out walnut-sized tumor at the back of my tongue was throat cancer

Source: www.nydailynews.com Author: Corky Siemaszko Michael Douglas said the tumor at the back of his tongue was the size of a walnut, but it still took doctors nine months to figure out it was throat cancer. “I knew something was wrong,” he said. “My tooth was really sore, and I thought I had an infection.” But the ear-nose-and-throat doctors and periodontists he consulted kept giving him antibiotics. “And then more antibiotics, but I still had pain,” he said. Finally, in 2010, a doctor in Montreal figured out that thing on his tongue was tumor. “Two days later, after the biopsy, the doctor called and said I had to come in,” Douglas recalled in a wide-ranging interview with New York magazine. “He told it me it was stage-four cancer. I said, ‘Stage four. Jesus.’ “And that was that. After complaining for nine months and them not finding anything, and then they told me I was stage four? That was a big day.” Douglas not only talked about his brush with mortality, he also chatted about his Hollywood comeback. He plays flamboyant piano tickler Liberace in an HBO biopic, “Behind the Candelabra,” that airs May 26. “Liberace loved sex,” he said. But the “Wall Street” star’s revelation that he had cancer sent a scare through Hollywood, where the words “stage four” were looked at as a death sentence. And for a time, Douglas looked like hell — losing 45 pounds as he subsisted on mostly on matzo ball soup as he healed. [...]

Oral Cancer Foundation News Team - A2013-05-14T08:31:53-07:00May, 2013|Oral Cancer News|

New research reveals genetic mutations of HNC

Source: www.drbicuspid.com Author: DrBicuspid Staff New findings regarding the genetic mutations that cause head and neck cancer (HNC) may lead to new therapies, according to collaborative research presented in November at the 2012 Chemotherapy Foundation Symposium in New York City. Aaron Tward, MD, PhD, and colleagues analyzed tumor samples provided by the University of Pittsburgh from 92 patients with head and neck squamous cell carcinoma (HNSCC), according to an article on onclive.com. Patient samples were chosen to reflect the normal distribution of patients with these cancers -- that is, mostly men and smokers, noted Dr. Tward. Of these patients, 89% reported a history of tobacco use and 79% alcohol use; 14% of all tumors and 53% of oropharyngeal tumors were found to be positive for human papillomavirus (HPV). Tumor sites also were selected to be roughly representative of the general HNSCC patient population -- that is, most were oral cavity cancers, followed by a substantial proportion of oropharynx cancer samples and a few from patients with hypopharyngeal or laryngeal tumors. Investigators used hybrid capture sequencing to compare tumor tissue and nontumor tissue from the same patient. They also compared the total number of mutations in the HNSCC samples with samples from previous tumor studies. The analysis yielded a large number of mutations. For example, 5,000 genes had at least one mutation, and 1,300 had at least two, the researchers reported. Dr. Tward emphasized, however, that most of these are not implicated either in promoting or maintaining the cancer. He said [...]

Oral Cancer Foundation News Team - A2012-12-31T12:21:03-07:00December, 2012|Oral Cancer News|

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

Source: medicalxpress.com 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 cancer. After adjusting for these differences in patient characteristics, patients [...]

Oral Cancer Foundation News Team - A2012-12-12T19:48:24-07:00December, 2012|Oral Cancer News|