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๐Ÿ“ฐ Latest breakthroughs
๐Ÿ—บ๏ธ Disease Atlas ยท Gastrointestinal disease

oral cavity cancer

A primary or metastatic malignant neoplasm involving the oral cavity. The majority are squamous cell carcinomas.

๐Ÿ”” Follow weekly
๐Ÿงฌ6103genes / proteins with evidence
๐Ÿ’Š21drugs and clinical candidates
๐Ÿงช12+recruiting trials worldwide
โœ…5phase 2/3
๐Ÿ“ˆ11phase 2
๐Ÿงฌ

Understand oral cavity cancer

Cancer ยท Cells that grow out of control
๐ŸŽ“ Learn more

What it is

Oral cancer is cancer of the mouth. It is a type of head and neck cancer. Most oral cancers are squamous cell cancers. They begin in the flat cells that cover the surfaces of your mouth, tongue, and lips. The cancer cells may spread into deeper tissue as the cancer grows.

Most oral cancers are related to tobacco use, heavy alcohol use, or an HPV infection.

Who is more likely to develop oral cancer?

From MedlinePlus: Oral Cancer (US National Library of Medicine) โ†—

๐Ÿงฌ Cancer: Cancer is a group of diseases in which some of the body's cells grow and divide without control, and can spread to other parts of the body.

โ“ Why it happens

  • Changes (mutations) build up in the genes that tell a cell when to grow, divide and die.
  • Most of these changes happen during life: tobacco, too much sun, alcohol, some infections (such as HPV and hepatitis B and C), radiation, obesity and ageing all raise the risk.
  • Some people inherit a faulty gene that raises their risk, such as BRCA1 or BRCA2.

๐Ÿซ€ What it does to the body

  • Cancer cells form a lump (tumour) that can press on or invade nearby organs.
  • They can travel through the blood or lymph to start new tumours elsewhere (metastasis).
  • Blood cancers crowd out healthy blood cells in the bone marrow.

๐Ÿงฑ Why it is hard to cure

  • Every cancer is different, even between two people with the same type - and inside one tumour.
  • Cancer cells keep changing, so they can learn to resist a medicine that worked at first.
  • Cancer cells are the body's own cells, so killing them without harming healthy cells is hard.
  • Many cancers cause no symptoms until they have spread, and a new medicine often takes more than ten years to go from the lab to patients.

๐Ÿš€ What research is trying now

  • Targeted medicines against the exact gene change in a tumour (for example EGFR, ALK or KRAS).
  • Immunotherapy that helps the immune system recognise cancer, including CAR-T cell therapy.
  • Personalised cancer vaccines built from each tumour's mutations, now in late trials.
  • Blood tests that look for tumour DNA to find cancer earlier, and AI to read scans and slides.

General information about cancer, reviewed by people; it does not describe any one person. Below: the evidence for oral cavity cancer itself.

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AI briefing

Where the science on oral cavity cancer stands, from the evidence on this page

AI reads the targets, drugs, trials and papers below and writes where the science stands โ€” every claim cited. It is shared with everyone who opens oral cavity cancer.

๐ŸŽฏ

Top targets

Genes and proteins ranked by Open Targets evidence (0-1)
TP53 tumor protein p53PROTACothersmall molecule๐ŸงŠ AlphaFold structure โ†— 0.65
NOTCH1 notch receptor 1PROTACantibodysmall molecule๐ŸงŠ AlphaFold structure โ†— 0.63
CDKN2A cyclin dependent kinase inhibitor 2A๐ŸงŠ AlphaFold structure โ†— 0.63
HRAS HRas proto-oncogene, GTPasePROTACantibodysmall molecule๐ŸงŠ AlphaFold structure โ†— 0.61
PIK3CA phosphatidylinositol-4,5-bisphosphate 3-kinase catalytic subunit alphaPROTACantibodysmall molecule๐ŸงŠ AlphaFold structure โ†— 0.61
FAT1 FAT atypical cadherin 1PROTACantibody๐ŸงŠ AlphaFold structure โ†— 0.57
MAML2 mastermind like transcriptional coactivator 2๐ŸงŠ AlphaFold structure โ†— 0.56
CRTC1 CREB regulated transcription coactivator 1PROTACantibody๐ŸงŠ AlphaFold structure โ†— 0.56
NFIB nuclear factor I BPROTAC๐ŸงŠ AlphaFold structure โ†— 0.55
MYB MYB proto-oncogene, transcription factorPROTACsmall molecule๐ŸงŠ AlphaFold structure โ†— 0.54
KMT2C lysine methyltransferase 2CPROTACsmall molecule๐ŸงŠ AlphaFold structure โ†— 0.54
FBXW7 F-box and WD repeat domain containing 7PROTACsmall molecule๐ŸงŠ AlphaFold structure โ†— 0.54
CRTC3 CREB regulated transcription coactivator 3PROTAC๐ŸงŠ AlphaFold structure โ†— 0.53
CASP8 caspase 8PROTACantibodysmall molecule๐ŸงŠ AlphaFold structure โ†— 0.53
HMGA2 high mobility group AT-hook 2PROTAC๐ŸงŠ AlphaFold structure โ†— 0.53

Green labels: what the target is known to be druggable by. The score combines genetics, somatic mutations, drugs, expression and literature.

๐Ÿ’Š

Drugs and candidates

Every medicine linked to oral cavity cancer, by how far it has got
In phase 2 / 3 ยท 16
CelecoxibCyclooxygenase-2 inhibitorPhase 2/3
CisplatinPhase 2/3
CyclophosphamidePhase 2/3
DexamethasoneGlucocorticoid receptor agonistPhase 2/3
ThalidomideCRL4(CRBN) E3 ubiquitin ligase inhibitorPhase 2/3
AvelumabProgrammed cell death 1 ligand 1 otherPhase 2
Show all 16
BevacizumabVascular endothelial growth factor A inhibitorPhase 2
CarboplatinPhase 2
DocetaxelTubulin inhibitorPhase 2
FluorouracilThymidylate synthase inhibitorPhase 2
HydroxyureaRibonucleoside-diphosphate reductase RR1 inhibitorPhase 2
Metformin HydrochlorideMitochondrial complex I (NADH dehydrogenase) inhibitor; Mitochondrial glycerol-3-phosphatโ€ฆPhase 2
NivolumabProgrammed cell death protein 1 inhibitorPhase 2
Pioglitazone HydrochloridePeroxisome proliferator-activated receptor gamma agonistPhase 2
SintilimabProgrammed cell death protein 1 antagonistPhase 2
Valproic AcidSuccinate semialdehyde dehydrogenase inhibitorPhase 2
Early trials ยท 4
CetuximabEpidermal growth factor receptor erbB1 inhibitorPhase 1/2
Dacomitinib AnhydrousEpidermal growth factor receptor erbB1 inhibitor; Receptor protein-tyrosine kinase erbB-2โ€ฆPhase 1/2
AdavosertibSerine/threonine-protein kinase WEE1 inhibitorPhase 1
DurvalumabProgrammed cell death 1 ligand 1 inhibitorEarly phase 1
๐Ÿงช

Recruiting trials

Worldwide, open to new patients now
Pioglitazone-Metformin Combination Treatment for High Risk Oral PreneoplasiaNCT05727761 ยท Phase 2 ยท ๐Ÿ“ MinneapolisProsthesis Guided Speech Rehabilitation of T1/T2 Cancers of the TongueNCT02584270 ยท NA ยท ๐Ÿ“ Ann ArborCombination Study of Antibiotics With Enzalutamide (PROMIZE)NCT06126731 ยท Phase 1, Phase 2 ยท ๐Ÿ“ BellinzonaOzone Therapy With Biomimetic Oral Care for Cancer-Related Oral MucositisNCT07491536 ยท NA ยท ๐Ÿ“ PaviaPost-op T-DM1 in HER-2+ Salivary Gland CarcinomasNCT04620187 ยท Phase 2 ยท ๐Ÿ“ AtlantaSingle and Combined Modality Trans-Oral Robotic Surgery in Early Oropharyngeal CancerNCT05933889 ยท n/a ยท ๐Ÿ“ LondonMetarrestin (ML-246) in Subjects With Metastatic Solid TumorsNCT04222413 ยท Phase 1 ยท ๐Ÿ“ FairwayHead and Neck Carcinoma Clinical Research Platform for Molecular and Blood-based Biomarkers, Treatment and Ouโ€ฆNCT06380686 ยท n/a ยท ๐Ÿ“ EssenA Phase 2 Study of VS-7375 in Patients With KRAS G12D-Mutated Non-Small Cell Lung CancerNCT07659782 ยท Phase 2 ยท ๐Ÿ“ ScottsdaleImproved Oral Health in Head and Neck Cancer SurvivorsNCT07173270 ยท NA ยท ๐Ÿ“ UppsalaImmune Biomarker Study for Cisplatin-ineligible Patients Receiving Chemoradiotherapy With DocetaxelNCT06947668 ยท n/a ยท ๐Ÿ“ ErlangenImpact of Changing the Appearance of Oral Antineoplastics on Adherence and Continuity of Treatment, Patient-rโ€ฆNCT07664683 ยท n/a ยท ๐Ÿ“ San Juan Search more trials โ†’
๐Ÿ›ก๏ธ

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