New drug combination holds unusually positive results for HPV-negative patients with advanced head and neck cancer
2023-03-28
(Press-News.org) WASHINGTON (March 28, 2023)— A new combination drug treatment showed promising results in patients with pan-refractory, recurrent/metastatic head and neck cancer, according to a study published today in the Journal of Clinical Oncology.
Head and neck cancer is a deadly form of cancer that arises in the lining of the mouth and throat. Worldwide more than 700,000 people were diagnosed with head and neck cancer in 2021. The disease is caused by the human papillomavirus (HPV) or environmental carcinogens, including the regular use of tobacco or alcohol. When the cancer comes back after curative treatment, patients have an overall survival of less than two years.
“Our study was conducted in patients with heavily resistant head and neck cancer, whose cancer had continued to grow in the face of all standard treatments including cetuximab,” Julie E. Bauman, M.D. the study’s lead author and professor of medicine at the George Washington University School of Medicine and Health Sciences, said. “In this pan-refractory population, the combination of drugs doubled the expected time until cancer progression.”
Bauman and colleagues’ randomized Phase II study used a new monoclonal antibody drug called ficlatuzumab. Patients were given ficlatuzumab alone or in combination with a standard drug known as cetuximab. Cetuximab already has U.S. Food and Drug Administration approval for head and neck cancer treatment.
Patients treated with both drugs also had a 19% overall response rate, meaning that 6 of 32 patients had at least 30% shrinkage of their tumors. These results were encouraging because the most realistic outcome for their treatment would have been to stabilize cancer growth for two months, Bauman said. Moreover, 2 of these patients had a complete response, losing all traces of their cancer after treatment.
“Unexpectedly, all responses occurred in patients with HPV-negative cancer,” Bauman said, translating to a 38% response rate in this subgroup. “This result was gratifying, as patients with HPV-negative disease have the worst overall survival. In this heavily pretreated group, we might have expected a 5% response rate.”
Bauman is currently working with a team of researchers to design a large, randomized, Phase III clinical trial to test the combination therapy against standard treatment in patients with advanced, HPV-negative head and neck cancer.
The study, “Randomized Phase II Trial of Ficlatuzumab with or without Cetuximab in Pan-Refractory, Recurrent/Metastatic Head and Neck Cancer,” was published online March 28 in the Journal of Clinical Oncology. The multicenter study was led by Bauman and conducted while she was a cancer researcher at the University of Arizona.
The study was funded through the investigator-sponsored trials program of Aveo Oncology and supported by the Shared Resources of the University of Arizona Comprehensive Cancer Center.
-GW-
END
ELSE PRESS RELEASES FROM THIS DATE:
2023-03-28
NASA’s Wallops Flight Facility supported the successful launch of a Rocket Lab Electron rocket at 6:39 p.m. EDT, Thursday, March 16, from Virginia’s Mid-Atlantic Regional Spaceport on Wallops Island, Virginia.
The mission, named “Stronger Together,” carried two, 100-kilogram commercial satellites to low-Earth orbit for Capella Space.
“I’m extremely proud of the NASA team that helped ensure a safe and successful launch operation today,” said ...
2023-03-28
Researchers have designed a molecule that slows the effects of one of SARS-CoV-2's more dangerous components – an enzyme called a protease that cuts off the immune system's communications and helps the virus replicate.
While much more needs to happen to develop a drug, scientists can begin to imagine what that drug could look like – thanks to new images of the molecule bound to the protease.
“We have been searching for an effective molecule like this one for a while,” said Suman Pokhrel, a Stanford University graduate student in chemical and systems biology and one of the paper’s lead authors. “It is ...
2023-03-28
A new study found a professional development program helped teachers in a rural school district in the Southeast to collaborate and identify innovative solutions to serve multilingual learners, or students learning English as a second language.
The study, published in the Journal of Research in Rural Education, suggests professional development can help prepare teachers in rural districts that have fewer resources and a growing need to support multilingual learners.
“Professional development is essential in rural communities, where you might not have resources for specialists like a literacy coach, bilingual school psychologist, or bilingual family engagement specialist,” ...
2023-03-28
Buck Institute professor Pankaj Kapahi thinks the eye is a window to aging. His lab, in collaboration with Google Health and Zuckerberg San Francisco General Hospital, has shown how imaging of the fundus, the blood vessel-rich tissue in the retina, can be used to track human aging, in a way that is noninvasive, less expensive and more accurate than other aging clocks that are currently available. Publishing in eLife, researchers also did a genome-wide association study (GWAS) to establish the genetic basis for such a clock, which they call eyeAge.
“This type of imaging could be really ...
2023-03-28
CAMBRIDGE, MA -- Despite the many advantages of concrete as a modern construction material, including its high strength, low cost, and ease of manufacture, its production currently accounts for approximately 8 percent of global carbon dioxide emissions.
Recent discoveries by a team at MIT have revealed that introducing new materials into existing concrete manufacturing processes could significantly reduce this carbon footprint, without altering concrete’s bulk mechanical properties.
The findings are published today in the ...
2023-03-28
Excessive cholesterol absorption from intestinal lumen contributes to the pathogenesis of hypercholesterolemia, which is a well-established risk factor for atherosclerotic cardiovascular disease. The absorption of intestinal cholesterol is primarily mediated by Niemann-Pick C1-like 1 (NPC1L1) protein, which is responsible for about 70% cholesterol absorption. NPC1L1-deficient mice are resistant to diet-induced hypercholesterolemia, which provides a compelling strategy for intervention the related diseases through inhibiting NPC1L1 expression or activity.
NPC1L1 protein is expressed in the brush border membrane of small intestine. The protein is extensively N-glycosylated ...
2023-03-28
Today, the Biden-Harris Administration announced Darleane C. Hoffman and Gabor A. Somorjai as recipients of the Enrico Fermi Presidential Award, one of the oldest and most prestigious science and technology honors bestowed by the U.S. government.
“Dr. Hoffman and Dr. Somorjai’s work to open the frontiers of radiochemistry and surface chemistry helped change what was possible, and advanced efforts to tackle some of the world’s greatest challenges,” said Assistant to the President and Director of the White House Office of Science and Technology Policy Arati Prabhakar. “They are world-class ...
2023-03-28
Key findings:
There are no vaccines or therapies available for lymphocytic choriomeningitis virus (LCMV) infection. This pathogen spreads easily and is extremely common in people worldwide.
Infection with LCMV can cause birth defects in developing fetuses, and severe illness and even death in the immuncompromised.
New findings from La Jolla Institute for Immunology (LJI) scientists show how an engineered antibody can target LCMV and neutralize the virus. They found this antibody has the potential to both prevent infection and treat an already established infection.
With this better understanding of LCMV's weak spots, scientists can move forward ...
2023-03-28
The COVID-19 pandemic posed an immense challenge on the health care industry in 2020 and 2021. While hospitals were inundated with COVID-19 cases, other illnesses such as respiratory syncytial virus (RSV) saw a decrease in hospital visits, particularly in the fourth quarter of 2020 and the first quarter of 2021.
A Texas A&M University School of Public Health study recently published in the journal Frontiers found that while there were an unusually low number of hospitalizations in 2020, there was an unusual peak in the third quarter of 2021, when hospital admissions for RSV were approximately twice ...
2023-03-28
A cold sparkling water.
Waves crashing on the beach.
The crackle of a bonfire.
Steam from a kettle.
These are not only the makings of a relaxing weekend, but also sources of aerosols in our environment. Though some of these sources of aerosols aren’t much of a concern, aerosols originating from industrial sources, such as wastewater treatment plants, and even natural sources, such as sea spray and dust, have the capacity to make more of an impact on the environment and even public health.
An aerosol ...
LAST 30 PRESS RELEASES:
[Press-News.org] New drug combination holds unusually positive results for HPV-negative patients with advanced head and neck cancer
