Head & Neck Cancer

Among other forms, there are notably squamous cell carcinomas of the oral cavity (OSCC) which are not only affecting a patient's physical well-being. They can also have a severe impact on social life because the growing cancer lesions can devastate faces. Unfortunately, the same applies to the most frequent curative procedure, which is surgery.

There is a large body of scientific evidence showing that the protein αvβ6-integrin is found in high density on the surface of most head-and-neck cancer & OSCC cells, which therefore can be visualized by Ga-68-TRIVEHEXIN PET ^[1]. We envisage that such tumor-specific 3D imaging data can help surgeons and radiation therapists to better assess the actual extent of facial tumor invasion.

In addition, we seek to establish novel αvβ6-integrin based intraoperative probes, that is, compounds causing the tumor to emit fluorescent light upon laser irradiation and increase its visibility to the surgeon. This technique, referred to as "fluorescence-guided surgery", bears the potential to precisely guide the surgical removal procedures and, thus, reduce the burden of treatment to the patients by preserving more healthy tissue.

The cellular target αvβ6-integrin shall furthermore be exploited to establish augments or even alternatives to surgery. We envisage a precision-medicine approach, where radioactive isotopes are homing directly into the tumor and cure it by high-energy irratiation from within.

[1] Quigley et al., Eur. J. Nucl. Med. Mol. Imaging 2021, doi: 10.1007/s00259-021-05559-x
https://link.springer.com/article/10.1007/s00259-021-05559-x