New method may help more patients with head, neck cancers

Singapore scientists develop a way to make tumours more susceptible to treatment

- Salma Khalik

Senior Health Correspondent Not all cancers are the same, even when they originate from the same site. This is why some patients respond strongly to some treatments, while others do not.

For example, a trial conducted in Singapore found that only 3 per cent to 5 per cent of patients with head and neck cancers responded very well to a drug developed for lung cancer.

Now, a seven-member team from the National Cancer Centre Singapore (NCCS) may have found a way to help more patients with head and neck cancers respond better to treatment by introducing a specific protein into their bloodstream.

This has proven to be a resounding success in laboratory experiments and in mice, with the tumours shrinking to the point of non-existence.

The next step is to take it from bench to bedside with clinical trials in patients, to find the best dosage and assess how well it works.

If the treatment works as expected, it has the potential to treat other cancers, too.

Head and neck cancers which occur in areas between the nose and the voice box - affect 900 to 950 people here each year. If discovered and treated early, patients have an 80 per cent chance of surviving five years or more. If the cancer is diagnosed in the late stages, the survival rate drops to 20 per cent.

Professor Gopal Iyer, a surgical oncologist at NCCS, said head and neck cancers are a very big problem.

Previously, the cancers were seen largely in men aged 70 and above who were heavy smokers and drinkers. But doctors are now increasingly seeing patients in their 50s and 60s who are neither smokers nor drinkers, as well as more women.