medical research – Head and Neck Network

THE PERFECT DECEPTION: HOW CANCER STEALS THE MANUAL OF LIFE TO SURVIVE

Head & Neck — Wed, 22 Jul 2026 10:33:07 +0000

To grow, a tumor must achieve the impossible: convince our immune system NOT to destroy it.

How does it do it? With an ancient and ingenious theft.

It browses an archive hidden in our own DNA. It reactivates the same genetic programs that allowed us, as embryos, to build the placenta, invade the uterus, create new blood vessels and temporarily switch off the mother’s immune defenses.

What in the embryo is a project for life, in the tumor becomes a project for survival.

From an immunological point of view, the embryo is a semi-transplant. Half of its DNA is paternal, therefore foreign to the mother. Yet it is not rejected. The placenta and trophoblast create a bubble of tolerance around it that reprograms maternal defenses.

Cancer does exactly the same.

Cancer cells learn to express molecules like PD-L1 and HLA-E. They are powerful STOP signals for T lymphocytes and Natural Killer cells. In practice, they tell the immune system: “I am not a danger”. They create a local immune paralysis.

This insight led to the study by Bambino Gesù Children’s Hospital, published in Signal Transduction and Targeted Therapy.

Researchers engineered a new generation of genetically enhanced Natural Killer cells to break this deception.

NK cells are our first line of defense against viruses and tumors, but they are switched off inside the tumor microenvironment. The new multifunctional platform makes them resistant with 3 combined strategies.

We are still in the preclinical phase, further studies are needed before clinical use, but the message is powerful: to defeat cancer, it is not enough to boost our defenses. We must prevent it from reactivating those ancestral programs born to protect new life and that it has turned into a weapon for its own survival.

Source: Bambino Gesù Children’s Hospital – Signal Transduction and Targeted Therapy

THE PERFECT DECEPTION: HOW CANCER STEALS THE MANUAL OF LIFE TO SURVIVE

Head & Neck — Mon, 20 Jul 2026 13:15:37 +0000

To grow, a tumor must achieve the impossible: convince our immune system NOT to destroy it.

How does it do it? With an ancient and ingenious theft.

What in the embryo is a project for life, in the tumor becomes a project for survival.

Cancer does exactly the same.

This insight led to the study by Bambino Gesù Children’s Hospital, published in Signal Transduction and Targeted Therapy.

Researchers engineered a new generation of genetically enhanced Natural Killer cells to break this deception.

Source: Bambino Gesù Children’s Hospital – Signal Transduction and Targeted Therapy

Is your mouth talking to cancer?

Head & Neck — Wed, 15 Jul 2026 08:41:27 +0000

Is your mouth talking to cancer? The link between oral microbiota and Head & Neck Cancer

Head and neck cancer is the 6th most common cancer worldwide, with over half a million new cases every year. We know tobacco, alcohol and HPV play a major role, but science is uncovering a new actor: your oral microbiome.

Your mouth is one of the most complex ecosystems in the body, home to 700 to thousands of species of bacteria, fungi and more.

When this ecosystem loses balance, a state called dysbiosis, it can contribute to cancer development.

Research is moving toward personalized medicine. Your microbiome might be part of it.

Is your mouth talking to cancer? The link between oral microbiota and Head & Neck Cancer

Head & Neck — Mon, 13 Jul 2026 10:32:40 +0000

Is your mouth talking to cancer? The link between oral microbiota and Head & Neck Cancer

Your mouth is one of the most complex ecosystems in the body, home to 700 to thousands of species of bacteria, fungi and more.

When this ecosystem loses balance, a state called dysbiosis, it can contribute to cancer development.

How?

1. Chronic inflammation & immune escape

Certain bacteria release genotoxins, create oxidative stress and modulate both innate and acquired immunity, favoring a pro-tumor microenvironment.

2. The “bad actors”

Recent reviews consistently find higher abundance of Gram-negative species in patients with HNSCC, including Fusobacterium (especially F. nucleatum), Porphyromonas gingivalis, Prevotella, Parvimonas and Peptostreptococcus.

3. The protectors

Not all bacteria are enemies. Corynebacterium and Kingella appear to have a preventive effect, while Bacillus, Lactobacillus and Sphingomonas are associated with a more favorable prognosis.

Why does this matter?

Ninety percent of head and neck cancers are squamous cell carcinomas, and tobacco and alcohol can further modify the oral microbiota. Understanding these microbial signatures could lead to non-invasive biomarkers for early diagnosis, prognosis stratification, and even new therapeutic targets that improve response to radiotherapy, chemotherapy and immunotherapy.

This is still an evolving field. Dysbiosis alone does not cause cancer, but it interacts with known risk factors. Good oral hygiene, smoking cessation, limiting alcohol, and HPV vaccination remain key preventive tools.

Research is moving toward personalized medicine. Your microbiome might be part of it.

Maura Gillison dies at 61

Head & Neck — Mon, 06 Jul 2026 12:18:54 +0000

Maura Gillison, who identified the role of HPV in head and neck cancer, changing the standard of care, dies at 61

Maura L. Gillison, MD, PhD, a medical oncologist and molecular epidemiologist whose work changed the standard of care for head and neck cancer by distinguishing human papillomavirus-positive from HPV-negative disease and thereby guiding diagnosis, treatment and prevention, died on June 21.

As a post-doctoral fellow at the Kimmel Cancer Center and Bloomberg School of Public Health at Hopkins, Gillison demonstrated that a subset of head and neck cancers of the pharynx, tonsils, and base of tongue was driven by HPV.

“Until her discovery, it was understood that head and neck cancer was caused by tobacco and alcohol and case reports of the presence of HPV in some tumors was attributed to laboratory contamination,” William G. Nelson, the Marion I. Knott Professor and Director of Sidney Kimmel Comprehensive Cancer Center, said in an announcement of Gillion’s death to the faculty. “She subsequently led a prospective case control study, at the SKCCC, which definitively demonstrated the causal role of HPV in oropharynx cancer published in 2007 in The New England Journal of Medicine.

Maura, rest in peace

HOW COMMON ARE HEAD AND NECK CANCERS?

Head & Neck — Wed, 10 Jun 2026 09:45:12 +0000

Head and neck cancers account for nearly 4% of all cancers in the United States.

Researchers estimated that more than 68,000 men and women in the United States would be diagnosed with head and neck cancers in 2021.

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Chewing Gum Reduces HPV and Oral Cancer–Associated Bacteria in Head and Neck Squamous Cell Carcinoma

Head & Neck — Thu, 04 Jun 2026 17:05:20 +0000

Emerging data published in Scientific Reports, demonstrates extracts from a bioengineered chewing gum to significantly reduce the levels of 3 microbes associated with head and neck squamous cell carcinoma (HNSCC).

The medicated chewing gum displayed substantial reductions in oral human papillomavirus (HPV), Porphyromonas gingivalis (P gingivalis), and Fusobacterium nucleatum (Fnucleatum).

The research evaluated a lablab bean–derived chewing gum containing the antiviral lectin (FRIL), for microbial loads in oral samples from patients with HNSCC. The goal was to asses HPV, Porphyromonas gingivalis and Fusobacterium nucleatum, which have been implicated in tumor progression.

The data analyzed saliva and oral rinse samples from patients with HNSCC and compared microbial levels following exposure to the investigational chewing gum extract.

Following treatment with the bean-derived lectin formulation, HPV levels were reduced by approximately 93% and 80% in saliva and oral rinse samples, respectively. The effect is attributed to FRIL-mediated binding of viral glycoproteins, which promotes aggregation and reduces viral availability for host cell entry.

Full article: https://www.pharmacytimes.com/view/emerging-data-shows-chewing-gum-reduces-hpv-and-oral-cancer-associated-bacteria-in-hnscc

Global study links alcohol to rising cases of lip and oral cavity cancer

Head & Neck — Mon, 01 Jun 2026 09:13:15 +0000

Heavy alcohol consumption has sharply increased the global burden of lip and oral cavity cancers over the past three decades, with the steepest rise seen in Southeast Asia and in lower-middle SDI regions (the SDI reflects the average education level of a country’s population) according to a new analysis based on Global Burden of Disease 2021 data provisionally accepted for publication in Frontierson Sept. 15.

The authors report that disability-adjusted life years (DALYs) attributable to alcohol-related lip and oral cavity cancers reached 1,191,084 in 2021, up from 628,484 in 1990 — an increase of about 90 per cent over the period.

Southeast Asia recorded the sharpest increases, with DALYs up 326% and deaths up 357% since 1990.

The authors project that from 2022 to 2045 the burden will continue to climb, especially among men.

The study team, led by Suzhou Stomatological Hospital in China, urges targeted action in low- and middle-income countries: lifestyle interventions, earlier screening and optimized resource allocation to curb future burden.

Meanwhile, the World Health Organization classifies alcohol as an established carcinogen and estimates that in 2019 alcohol caused 2.6 million deaths worldwide. In the same year, 4.4% of cancers diagnosed globally and 401,000 cancer deaths were attributable to alcohol consumption.

headandneckcancer, lipcancer, oralcancer, alcohol

WHITE BLOOD CELL AGAINST CANCER CELL

Head & Neck — Thu, 28 May 2026 09:39:37 +0000

The larger pale cell visible in these images is a white blood cell, while the smaller disc-shaped cells around it are red blood cells that carry oxygen.

The surface of a white blood cell is covered in receptor proteins that act like locks, recognizing antigens from bacteria and viruses as keys that signal a threat.

Chemical gradients released by infected tissue guide the cell directly toward the source of trouble, a process called chemotaxis. Once it reaches a target, cells like neutrophils and macrophages engulf the threat and destroy it using toxic enzymes.

This continuous movement is called immune surveillance, and it runs nonstop throughout the body. The same system that catches bacterial infections also scans for abnormal cells, including early stage cancer cells. It is one of the most efficient defense networks in biology.

OCCUPATIONAL AND ENVIRONMENTAL EXPOSURES TO CARCINOGENS IN HEAD AND NECK CANCER

Head & Neck — Wed, 27 May 2026 13:46:11 +0000

OCCUPATIONAL AND ENVIRONMENTAL EXPOSURES TO CARCINOGENS IN HEAD AND NECK CANCER

Carcinogens such as asbestos, wood dust, formaldehyde, pesticides, and heavy metals (nickel, chromium) significantly increase the risk of head and neck cancers (HNC), particularly in construction, agriculture, and manufacturing sectors.

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