An expert on Oral Mucositis (OM) and its debilitating affects on patients receiving cancer treatment forecast that the number of annual cases may increase due to the more frequent usage of newer chemotherapeutic agents.  Currently, approximately 400,000 Americans develop OM each year.

OM frequently results in very painful open sores in the mouth and throat that often interfere with a patient's ongoing chemotherapy or radiation treatments.  Oral mucositis also makes cancer patients prone to life-threatening infections and sometimes OM complications result in death.

Douglas Peterson, DMD, Ph.D, who has researched the prevention and treatment of mucositis in at-risk cancer populations for about 17 years, said in a recent news release that as clinical oncology practices embrace newer, more effective treatments, "the incidence and severity of mucositis may increase" because these cancer-fighting agents have significant oral toxicities. 

Dr. Peterson is co-author of a peer-reviewed article in this month's edition of the Journal of Clinical Oncology (see OMN article below).  His comments appear in a news release from The GI Company, where Dr. Peterson has served on the scientific advisory board since December 2007.

"Management of clinically significant oral mucositis in cancer patients currently represents a significant challenge," Dr. Peterson says in the September 10th news release.  "...there is a clear, unmet medical need for developing this targeted therapeutic with such an excellent safety profile," he added. 

Dr. Peterson was referring to a clinical compound produced by The GI Company, known as rhITF (recombinant human Intestinal Trefoil Factor), which in the Journal of Clinical Oncology investigation showed statistically significant Phase II results in preventing oral mucositis in colorectal cancer patients.

In explaining the causes of Oral Mucositis, The GI Company notes that "cytotoxic therapies are used to kill cancer cells, but they also indiscriminately kill other fast-growing normal cells such as those lining the inside of the mouth and throat." 

The GI Company is one of a growing list of global biotech companies that is developing treatments and preventative applications for oral mucositis. 

Dr. Peterson has published more than 100 peer-reviewed scientific papers.  He currently serves as Professor of Oral Medicine in the Department of Oral Health and Diagnostic Sciences in the School of Dental Medicine, as well as Chair of the Head and Neck/Oral Oncology Program at the University of Connecticut Health Center. At the time he was appointed to the GI Company science panel in 2007, the company noted that he worked as a Special Government Employee for the Food and Drug Administration pertaining to OM and the development of related drugs.

Photo: Douglas E. Peterson, DMD, Ph.D - University of Connecticut Health Center