How new head and neck cancer knowledge improves care | OSUCCC - James

Better understanding of head and neck tumor causes and progression could help doctors improve personalized treatment for cancer patients.
“How it started and how it evaded the immune system and got into the blood stream provides a wealth of information we can utilize and gives us more treatment options,” says James Rocco, a head and neck cancer specialist and chair of the head and neck surgery department at The Ohio State University Comprehensive Cancer Center - James Cancer Hospital and Solove Research Institute.
Rocco and his collaborators have developed a computational data analytics program called PhylogicNDT, which will evaluate the progression of head and neck cancer tumors caused by the human papillomavirus (HPV) and they believe “the approach can be applied to other types of cancers,” according to Rocco.
Smoking and alcohol use, along with HPV, are the primary causes of head and neck cancers. “When you smoke in your 20s and 30s it can create mutations as long as 50 or more years,” Rocco says, adding that analysis of head and neck tumors can determine if they result from smoking.
Rocco explains that patients with head and neck tumors that result from HPV and have never smoked can be treated “with lesser therapy and get great cure rates and have less side effects.” This is because the genetic mutations in the tumor are less complex and more susceptible to chemotherapy and immunotherapy.
“A large number of HPV-related head and neck cancer patients who were treated more aggressively can now be treated less aggressively,” he says.
Diagnosing head and neck tumors in the early stages, when the tumor mutations are less complex and easier to treat, can be problematic. This is because the symptoms don’t usually appear until the tumor has progressed significantly. However, “looking at the circulating DNA in someone’s blood can detect head and neck cancer in the earliest stages,” Rocco says. “We’re not there yet with circulating DNA, but we’re getting close.”
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[@sarahbrandon5017]

Excellent! I'm so fortunate that Dr. Rocco treated my HPV related head and neck cancer. I've taken this blood work since day one and it's definitely reassuring.