Clinical trials are testing new treatments for cancers of the larynx and hypopharynx, as well as new ways to deliver current treatments. One study is using vaccines made from papilloma virus cells to treat young patients with recurrent papilloma of the larynx. The vaccine could force the body to build an immune response to the virus and kill papilloma cells. Another study is testing the effectiveness of treating patients with early-stage cancer of the larynx with a combination of radiation therapy and laser surgery. Researchers believe that combining the two treatments may kill more tumor cells.
There is some evidence suggesting that using viral vectors (a delivery mechanism based on modified versions of viruses), alone or in combination with chemotherapy, may have some benefit in decreasing the size of local lesions.
Experimental gene therapy that replaces a defective p53 tumor suppressor gene is in trials at various institutions across the country. One line of research involves inserting a normal p53 gene into a person’s cancer cells to reverse the malignancy of tumors. More than 50 percent of all cancer patients have some mutation in their p53 gene. Treatment with a normal p53 gene may help improve the body’s ability to fight cancer or make the cancer cells more sensitive to treatment.
It is thought that this may be of benefit to patients with recurrent disease, but must still be proven in well-controlled clinical trials.
Copyright © 2000 Oncology.com, Inc. All rights reserved.
