Antiviral chewing gum – Credit: Kevin Monko / Penn Dental Medicine
Research from the University of Pennsylvania shows that antiviral and antibacterial chewing gums reduce the levels of three microbes known to be associated with oral cancer, paving the way for more effective and affordable therapies.
Head and neck squamous cell carcinoma (HNSCC) is a common cancer that develops in the lining of the mouth and throat. It can be aggressive and often has poor outcomes, especially when diagnosed at advanced stages.
Henry Daniell of Penn’s School of Dental Medicine says most new cancer drugs fail to significantly improve quality-of-life, or the five-year survival rates.
Building from their previous work, they used a chewing gum made from lablab beans, also known as hyacinth beans. The beans contain the naturally antiviral protein FRIL.
Daniell and colleagues examined oral swab samples from patients with HNSCC, looking for levels of three microbes linked to cancer—human papilloma virus, or HPV—and two species of bacteria, Porphyromonas gingivalis (Pg) and Fusobacterium nucleatum (Fn).
“The global increase in oropharyngeal cancer is linked to HPV infection,” Daniell told Penn News. “And Pg and Fn infections worsen survival rates of untreated recurrent or metastatic oral cancer, even after surgery and risk-adjusted adjuvant, or supplemental, therapies.”
They found that bean gum extracts had reduced HPV levels by 93% in saliva samples and by 80% in oral rinse samples.
When they bioengineered the bean gum to also contain protegrin, an antimicrobial peptide that can kill harmful bacteria, they found that a single dose reduced the levels of Pg and Fn to almost zero without affecting the beneficial bacteria normally found in the mouth.
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(This contrasts with radiation therapy, which both reduces beneficial bacteria and increases the disease-causing yeast, Candida albicans).
“Lip and oral cavity cancer was the seventh leading cancer type in cancer incidence and mortality rate worldwide in adolescents, young adults, and middle-aged adults in 2022,” says Daniell.
“Our findings, published in Scientific Reports, support the value of advancing these therapies to clinical trials as adjuvants with current treatments or as prophylaxis to prevent infection and transmission.”
