Researchers at the School of Dentistry at UT Health San Antonio, the academic health center of The University of Texas at San Antonio, have been awarded three multi-year grants totaling $6 million from the National Institutes of Health to address treatment and pain management for oral cancer.
The grants propose new targets to stem deadly oral squamous cell carcinoma and novel approaches to treat oral mucositis, massive inflammation and ulcers in the oral cavity that can result from radiotherapy treatment. Also, one of the grants will investigate a new mechanism for reducing oral cancer pain, aimed at providing knowledge for future research to develop drugs for both pain management and cancer treatment.
“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,” said 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.”