Researchers at the UT Health San Antonio School of Dentistry have secured three National Institutes of Health (NIH) grants totalling US$6 million to improve oral cancer therapies, prevent treatment-related complications and develop better pain-relief strategies.
Oral squamous cell carcinoma accounts for more than 95 per cent of oral cancer cases and carries a five-year survival rate as low as 38 per cent. It also represents the majority of head and neck cancers, causing roughly 11,000 deaths annually in the United States. With late-stage diagnoses rising, researchers say new therapeutic pathways are urgently needed.
“Taken together, these grants represent new promise in addressing both the treatment and conditions of oral cancer that, unfortunately, is growing more common and carries relatively low survival rates,” says Kenneth Hargreaves, DDS, PhD, professor and dean of the School of Dentistry, and director of its Center for Pain Therapeutics and Addiction Research. “In so doing, this research could lead to the development of new and transformative therapies.”
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The grants
Here is how the funding is divided:
- A two-year, US$315,000 project led by Dr. Cara Gonzales will investigate whether inhibiting the ion channel TRPC1 can selectively kill oral cancer cells while sparing immune cells — work that could lay the groundwork for targeted therapies.
- A second, five-year US$3.1-million grant, led by Drs. Shivani Ruparel and Brij B. Singh, will explore a new biological mechanism behind radiation-induced oral mucositis. The painful condition often disrupts cancer treatment yet remains poorly understood. Their study will examine how calcium, TRPM2 and inflammasome signalling drive inflammation, with the goal of identifying preventive interventions.
- A third award, US$2.6 million over four years, also led by Ruparel, focuses on the molecular drivers of oral cancer pain. The team will study the truncated TrkBT1 receptor, highly expressed in oral tumours, to determine whether targeting this pathway can reduce both tumour progression and cancer-related pain — an area where current medications, including opioids, offer limited relief.
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