Researchers Discover First Drug Therapy For Tongue Cancer

Researchers from Weill Cornell Medical College have announced that they’ve discovered the first effective drug therapy for patients afflicted with tongue cancer. The researchers tested two drugs on mice: Bexarotene, which is currently FDA approved for T-cell lymphoma treatments, and CD1530, a synthetic version of vitamin A, which has some similarities to a cousin vitamin A derivative primarily used in acute promyeloctic leukemia treatments. The mice treated with the two drugs developed 75 percent fewer tumors on average compared to untreated mice.

Dr. Lorraine Gudas, chair of the Department of Pharmacology at Weill Cornell, spoke about the research conducted. “Clearly, we need a treatment that can work to help prevent development of the cancer in people at risk, reducing the need for radical surgery,” she said. “The two drugs we tested showed remarkable benefit in our animal studies and our animal model mirrors development of human tongue cancer. While we have much research yet to do, this is a very exciting discovery. This is the first time this combination of agents has been used in a solid cancer, and given the impressive results we have seen in this preclinical study, we plan to test this combination in other solid tumors.”

Tongue cancer is one of the most common cancers in the world, and 5 year survival rates are lower than 50 percent. Current treatments consist of surgery or radiation, both of which can disfigure patients. Unfortunately, the cancer is usually discovered in the later stages when patients have even fewer treatment options. Tongue cancer can be more prevalent in those that smoke or drink large quantities of alcohol.

Considering that the disease has long been a difficult one to treat, and the research team was excited about the possibility of improving the outlook of patients. Dr. Gudas stated that the team intends to conduct clinical studies on the two drugs to further test their effectiveness.

The results of the research team’s findings were published in the June 2 issue of the PNAS journal.