1,721,031 research outputs found
Saliva diagnostics for oral diseases
No full textOral diseases, or stomatognathic diseases, denote the diseases of the mouth (“stoma”) and jaw (“gnath”). Dental caries and periodontal diseases have been traditionally considered as the most important global oral health burdens. It is important to note that in oral diagnostics, the greatest challenges are determining the clinical utility of potential biomarkers for screening (in asymptomatic people), predicting the early onset of disease (prognostic tests), and evaluating the disease activity and the efficacy of therapy through innovative diagnostic tests. An oral diagnostic test, in principle, should provide valuable information for differential diagnosis, localization of disease, and severity of infection. This information can then be incorporated by the physician when planning treatments and will provide means for assessing the effectiveness of therapy
The development of a liquid biopsy for head and neck cancers
No full textDeveloping non-invasive diagnostic tools in the field of head and neck oncology has been a challenge. Analysis of circulating tumour derivatives in a patient’s blood has been explored in other solid cancers. This includes analysis of circulating tumour DNA, intact circulating tumour cells (CTCs) and exosomes. These circulating tumour derivatives provide avenues of investigation which can be representative of a patient’s primary tumour signature and can be assessed from a patient’s blood sample. In advanced stage cancer patients, these tumour derivatives are found in higher amounts, attributed to higher cellular turnover (apoptosis, autophagy), lysed CTCs and sloughing from necrotic tumours. Head and neck squamous cell carcinoma (HNSCC) patients often present with advanced disease associated with a poor 5-year survival of <50%. Outside of sophisticated imaging and clinical examination, there is a lack of available biomarkers to measure disease burden, and/or response to therapy. Implementation of a liquid biopsy in HNSCC through serial blood samples has the potential to detect metastatic events earlier, thereby allowing better selection of appropriate treatment choices, predict prognosis in patients with potentially curable disease, monitor systemic therapies and residual disease post-treatment
Current trends and management in head and neck cancers
No full textThere is a general lack of public awareness on the daunting statistics of head and neck squamous cell carcinoma (HNSCC) when compared with other mainstay cancers such as breast and prostate cancers. HNSCC includes malignancies in five major anatomical sites, namely, oral cavity, oropharynx, nasopharynx, hypopharynx and larynx. HNSCC is diverse in nature both biologically and clinically. HNSCC is the 6th most common cancer globally with less than 50% survival beyond 5 years. Risk factors include smoking and alcohol consumption, betel nut chewing, wearing dentures, trauma to the gums and oral cavity as well as exposure to the human papillomavirus (HPV). HNSCC is more prevalent in men, however, the prevalence in women has been increasing due to changes in lifestyle over the last few decades. Whilst, smoking associated HNSCC is on the decline, HPV associated HNSCC is increasing. The therapy of choice for newly diagnosed patients consists of combined modality treatment of surgery, chemotherapy and radiotherapy. Despite this aggressive first line treatment, over 30% of HNSCC patients develop locoregional and distant metastasis and succumb to the disease. Early diagnostics are the key to early interventions at the disease stage which can improve patient outcomes. This chapter aims to outline HNSCC trends and statistics, research based prognostic and diagnostic tools, treatments and patient management
A liquid biopsy for head and neck cancers
No full textHead and neck cancer patients often present with advanced metastatic disease resulting in a poor 5-year survival. Therefore, there is a need for non-invasive diagnostic tools that could complement conventional imaging to inform clinicians of patient outcomes and treatment responses. A liquid biopsy addresses this unmet clinical need; a simple peripheral blood draw could provide information about the disseminated disease in terms of circulating tumor cells and circulating tumor DNA. Moreover, detectable tumor DNA in the saliva of head and neck cancer patients could signify the early signs of the disease and present an opportunity for clinical intervention. This review provides an overview of the current literature with regard to the feasibility of such a test in the head and neck cancer field and highlights the need for such a test
749 Spatial profiling of the tumour microenvironment in head and neck cancer to identify biomarkers of response to therapy
No full textAbstract PO-089: Spatial profiling of the tumour microenvironment using digital spatial profiling
No full textAbstract S03-04: Spatial profiling of lung SARS-CoV-2 and influenza virus infection identifies virus specific host responses and gene signatures Free
No full textCirculating tumour cell PD-L1 test for head and neck cancers
No full textImmune checkpoint inhibitors have gained traction over the last few years in the treatment of metastatic/recurrent head and neck squamous cell carcinoma (HNSCC) patients. Monoclonal antibodies that block the programmed death 1 (PD-1) receptor and its major ligand, PD-L1, have shown durable responses and low toxicity profiles. There are currently no validated predictive biomarkers to select patients likely to respond to anti-PD-1/PD-L1 therapy to avoid unwanted side effects and to reduce healthcare expenditure. A circulating tumour cell (CTC) PD-L1 assay could be developed as a companion diagnostic tool to potentially predict the efficacy of immune checkpoint blockade treatments
Epithelial-mesenchymal axis in head and neck cancer cell lines
No full textObjectives: Head and neck squamous cell carcinoma (HNSCC) is a heterogeneous tumour type which necessitates multiple invitro models to attain an appreciation of its multiple subtypes. The phenomenon of epithelial-mesenchymal transition (EMT) isimportant to the development of a metastatic cancer cell phenotype being relevant to the ability of cancer cells to intravasate intovasculature and to invade tissues. The role of EMT in human papilloma virus (HPV) positive HNSCC is not well understood. Thispaper aims to characterize seven HNSCC cell lines (FaDu, SCC-25, SCC-15, CAL27, RPMI2650) including two new HPV-16positive HNSCC cell lines (UD-SCC2, 93-VU-147T) for their epithelial and mesenchymal properties.\ud
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Materials and methods: A panel of HNSCC cell lines from multiple head and neck anatomical sites were profiled for basalexpression of epithelial and mesenchymal characteristics at mRNA, protein and functional levels (proliferative, migratory andinvasive properties). Furthermore, 3D spheroid forming capabilities were investigated.\ud
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Results: We found that the HPV-16 positive cell line, in particular UD-SCC2 demonstrated a more invasive and mesenchymalphenotype at the molecular and functional levels suggesting HPV infection may mediate some of these cellular properties.Moreover, HPV-negative cell lines were not strictly epithelial presenting with a dynamic range of expression.\ud
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Conclusions: This study presents the molecular and phenotypic diversity of HNSCC cell lines. It highlights the need formore studies in this field and a scoring system where HNSCC cell lines are ranked according to their respective epithelial andmesenchymal nature. This data will be useful to anyone modelling HNSCC behaviour, providing a molecular context which willenable them to decipher cell phenotypes and to develop therapies which block EMT progression
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