Thesis defense Amy Dohmen: Advanced head and neck cancer treatment: A basic step forward

12-12-2018

On December 13^th, Amy Dohmen will defend her PhD thesis about her quest for novel radiosensitizers for advanced head and neck cancer treatment.

Patients now treated with a combination of chemotherapy radiotherapy and surgery but their prognosis is still relatively poor. The combination of CT (cisplatin, cetuximab) with concurrent RT has resulted in minor survival benefits, but with substantial increase in toxicities when compared to RT alone and novel radiosensitizers that specifically target cancer cells are sorely needed. To identify such radiosensitizers, Amy performed multiple drug screens in absence and presence of irradiation. One screen identified GSK635416A. This drug radiosensitizes cancer cells, thereby outperforming cisplatin and cetuximab, while exhibiting virtually no cytotoxicity in the absence of irradiation and in normal fibroblast cells.

Thesis defense Amy Dohmen: Advanced head and neck cancer treatment: A basic step forward

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