Latest news with #HeadAndNeckCancer
Telegraph
4 days ago
- Health
- Telegraph
Cancer vaccines to be given to patients with deadly head and neck tumours
Cancer vaccines will be given to NHS patients with deadly head and neck tumours. A trial of jabs that could cure people's cancer and prevent it from returning is being expanded to include more than 100 patients with mouth, throat and other head-related cancers, over the next year. The world-first programme has already been trialling personalised cancer vaccines in some 550 patients with either bowel or skin cancers. Tens of thousands of patients will be recruited to trial the various vaccines in development for different forms of the disease over the coming years. The programme, called the NHS Cancer Vaccine Launch Pad, uses a 'match-making' service to partner eligible cancer patients with appropriate trials at nearby hospitals, led by the Southampton Clinical Trials Unit. The cancer vaccines use 'mRNA' technology, first pioneered to create Covid-19 jabs during the pandemic. The vaccine used in this trial, known as AHEAD-MERIT (BNT113-01), will help the immune system recognise and kill cancer cells containing human papillomavirus (HPV) proteins, which are commonly linked to head and neck cancers. Around 11,000 new cases of head and neck cancer are diagnosed in England every year, with a recent University of Sheffield study finding rates had increased by 47 per cent between 2013 and 2020. Aggressive forms of the disease are difficult to treat and have high rates of returning, while fewer than 50 per cent of patients will live for two years after being diagnosed. The vaccine used in the trial is encoded with two proteins that are commonly found in head and neck cancers associated with high-risk types of HPV. It trains the body's immune system to attack and kill the cancer cells. Prof Peter Johnson, NHS England's national clinical director for cancer, said it was a 'potentially transformative vaccine, offering renewed hope of holding the disease at bay'. 'The NHS is always looking for evidence-backed innovations in treatment to improve survival and quality of life for people diagnosed with cancer, and this expansion of our Cancer Vaccine Launch Pad will give hundreds of patients the chance to be part of cutting-edge advances in cancer care,' he said. It will be available to selected patients from 15 NHS hospitals over the next 12 months, NHS England said, which is partnering with German life sciences company BioNTech on the programme. The announcement to expand trials into vaccines using mRNA technology comes after Robert F Kennedy Jr, the US health secretary, announced he would cancel $500 million in funding for mRNA vaccines to tackle viruses that cause diseases such as flu and Covid-19. Kennedy, a vaccine sceptic, said he was pulling the funding over claims that 'mRNA technology poses more risks than benefits for these respiratory viruses', in a move that has been heavily criticised. Karin Smyth MP, the health minister, said the new cancer vaccine trial was a 'massive win' for Britain and 'could be game-changing for patients facing some of the most challenging diagnoses'. 'By getting these trials running in our NHS, we're putting ourselves at the forefront of medical innovation,' she said. Lord Vallance, the science minister and former chief scientific officer for the Government, said: 'Our partnership with BioNTech is delivering for patients right across the country, and I hope to see more ambitious work like this as they continue to invest in research and development and AI as part of their billion-pound backing for the UK over the next 10 years.' Chris Curtis, 67, from Blackpool, was diagnosed with a HPV-related head and neck cancer in 2011 and set up a support charity, The Swallows. He said: 'When I was diagnosed with stage four tongue cancer and two secondary cancers, one each side of the neck, my world just fell apart. 'I then had to go through brutal treatment, including six weeks of radiotherapy, chemotherapy every week, two neck dissections and be fed on a tube for almost three years. I lost 12 stone in weight and was severely physically and mentally unwell. 'With this aggressive cancer you live in fear every day – so anything that could help control the disease or give people peace of mind is ground-breaking. 'It'll allow people to get on with their lives and move forward.' Dr Iain Foulkes, executive director of research and innovation at Cancer Research UK, said the launch pad was an 'important route to fast-track promising mRNA vaccine technology into clinical trials'. 'Research into personalised cancer treatments is vital. 'There are over 200 different types of cancer and it's unlikely there will ever be a single cure that works for everyone.'
Medscape
18-07-2025
- Health
- Medscape
Dermatomyositis: Imaging Key to Detect Head and Neck Cancer
TOPLINE: Head and neck cancer (HNC) occurred in a small but distinct subgroup of patients with dermatomyositis (DM), in a retrospective study that also found that most cases presented with myositis and neck masses. METHODOLOGY: To characterize patients with DM who developed HNC living in a region not endemic for Epstein-Barr virus (EBV), researchers conducted a retrospective cohort study of 590 patients with DM (76% women; 81% White individuals) using the Research Patient Data Registry at Mass General Brigham from 1979 to 2024. Patients had at least 3 years of clinical follow-up post-DM diagnosis. Researchers identified cancer-associated DM and HNC. TAKEAWAY: Of the 126 patients (21%) with cancer, 6% had HNC, all were male and were predominantly White (86%). Squamous cell carcinoma comprised 86% of cases. Five of the tested patients with HNC were human papillomavirus (HPV)-positive. One patient from an EBV-endemic area tested positive for EBV (which has been linked to an increased risk for HNC, including nasopharyngeal carcinoma). Most patients with HNC (86%) had myositis at presentation, and 83% showed cancer-associated symptoms at the onset of DM, most commonly a neck mass. The mean interval from a DM diagnosis to a cancer diagnosis was 20 months. Lymph node involvement was present in all HNC cases, and traditional cancer screening protocols without neck imaging would have missed every case. IN PRACTICE: These results 'underscore the importance' of the new International Myositis Assessment and Clinical Studies Group guidelines for cancer screening in patients with DM, 'which include neck CT imaging for high-risk dermatomyositis patients,' the authors wrote. However, they emphasized that even if initial screenings are negative, 'further evaluation should be pursued for patients with persistent symptoms and vigilance for HPV-associated HNC is critical.' SOURCE: The study was led by Leila Shayegan, MD, Department of Dermatology, Brigham and Women's Hospital and Harvard Medical School, Boston. It was published online on July 13 in the Journal of the American Academy of Dermatology. LIMITATIONS: Limitations included the retrospective design and small sample size. DISCLOSURES: The authors reported no funding information or relevant conflicts of interest. This article was created using several editorial tools, including AI, as part of the process. Human editors reviewed this content before publication.
