Embedded Files
Page 4
We believe in a proactive, preventive approach. We recommend strategies to rehabilitate swallowing function after treatment, such as exercises to strengthen muscles or improve coordination, changes in posture while swallowing, or special swallowing techniques to help patients swallow food and liquids more easily and safely. In some cases we recommend changes in food consistency, or specially designed utensils or drinking cups. We employ a full range of modalities to manage communication and swallowing issues, all under the direction of Heather Starmer, Clinical Assistant Professor of Otolaryngology. Conducting Groundbreaking Research into Mechanisms by Which Cancer Stem Cells Evade the Immune System We know that cancer stem cells make up a subset of cells within a tumor that are especially resilient to standard treatment. Long after most tumor cells have been eliminated, these cells may remain and, over time, contribute to the recurrence of disease in seemingly successfully treated patients. In head and neck squamous cell carcinoma, the most common form of cancer of the head and neck, a subset of cells with cancer stem cell features has been found to express a marker called CD44. It has long been suspected that these cells, in addition to being resistant to standard chemotherapy and radiation therapy, are also resistant to the host immune system. Whether this is true and how these cells might evade the immune system has been unclear until our division, led by John Sunwoo, MD, and a graduate student in his lab, Yunqin Lee, investigated this issue. Dr. Sunwoo and his team recently published their findings in the journal Clinical Cancer Research, demonstrating that the protein PD-L1 is expressed at higher levels on the surface membrane of CD44+ cells compared to other cells within these tumors. PD-L1 plays a role in suppressing the immune system by binding to another protein called PD-1 that is expressed on a subset of activated T cells, dampening their response to signals calling for expansion and further activation of the immune response. This research may provide critical insight into how cancer stem cells contribute to tumor cell dormancy and minimally residual disease that may recur years later. These findings also provide rationale for targeting the PD-1 pathway in the adjuvant therapy setting of head and neck cancer following surgical resection. Dr. Sunwoo’s work paves the way for the use of a whole new generation of chemotherapeutic approaches for patients with head and neck cancer.
Report abuse