Mouth cancer can affect any area of the mouth, including your lips, tongue, cheeks, and throat. The cancer is more common among men over the age of 40, but it is possible in anyone of any age. Early detection increases your chances of survival significantly, but it can still be difficult to treat successfully even when caught early.
Currently, mouth cancer is commonly treated with chemotherapy and radiotherapy, but new cancer treatments in development offer hope for more better treatment options.
New Drugs
New drugs are constantly being tested and studied for treating cancer, including mouth cancer. These drugs take some time to develop because they must go through phases of research called clinical trials. The trials help determine the right dosage and monitor the side effects of the drug and identify which cancers they help. The following are drugs are being studied for mouth cancer.
Adept
Adept is one of many different drugs that use monoclonal antibodies for treating cancer. A monoclonal antibody is used to carry an enzyme directly to cancer cells. After the antibody is given, the drug is given a few hours later. The combination causes a reaction which activates the anti-cancer drug, destroying the cancer cells.
Thalidomide
If you’re old enough, you may recognize this drug as a drug that was used in the 1960s for treating sickness during pregnancy. However, it caused birth defects and was discontinued for this use.
The defects were due to thalidomide’s interference with the development of new blood vessels. As a cancer treatment, however, the drug can be used to prevent tumors from developing blood vessels. If blood vessel development is prevented, the cancer is starved of oxygen and nutrients, causing tumors to shrink.
Other Promising Treatments
Other forms of therapy and technology are also being developed and researched to help discover more about improving treatment for mouth cancer.
DNA Ploidy System
This system is able to predict whether someone who has oral leukoplakia is at risk for getting mouth cancer. The cell nuclei from a biopsy is analyzed using digital imaging technology which evaluates the amount of DNA per cell. A normal amount of DNA per cell means you have a low risk of developing cancer, while an abnormal amount of DNA means you have a high risk. Because early detection is so important for mouth cancer, this method can help people start treatment sooner, giving them a higher chance of survival.
Gene Therapy
Gene therapy has a promising and important place in medicine. The therapy transplants normal genes into cells, in place of missing, defective, mutated ones. Currently, clinical trials are researching whether abnormal tumor suppressor genes of oral cancer can be replaced with a normal copy in order to restore normal growth control.
