National Cancer Institute Features U of M Oral Leukoplakia Trial

The National Cancer Institute will feature an oral chemoprevention clinical trial being conducted at the University of Minnesota on its website and in its weekly bulletin, NCI Cancer Bulletin. This is the first time a study being solely conducted at the University of Minnesota has been featured by the NCI. Frank Ondrey from the Department of Otolaryngology and Nelson Rhodus from the School of Dentistry's Division of Oral Medicine, along with a team of physicians and pathologists, are conducting the nation's first and only oral chemoprevention clinical trial for mouth and throat cancer. Funded by the National Cancer Institute, their research targets leukoplakia, believed to be a precursor to cancer, for intervention and treatment.

The clinical trial builds on Dr. Ondrey's earlier research that documented changes in lymphoma cells when treated with a fatty acid called ETYA. Drs. Ondrey and Rhodus conduct a weekly oral cancer prevention clinic at the University of Minnesota for patients with leukoplakia. A secondary mission for these weekly clinics is to collect data that will be valuable in determining which of these premalignant lesions may develop into oral cancer. Patients who have or have had oral lesions, as well as dentists who have patients with oral lesions, to contact the Oral Cancer Prevention Clinic for an appointment or information. Please call Kate Cole at (612) 625-5602 or Carol Dunn at (612) 624-8998.