Bioengineered chewing gum cuts HPV levels by up to 93pct in Penn lab study
A bioengineered chewing gum cut HPV levels by up to 93% in saliva samples from head and neck cancer patients, University of Pennsylvania researchers report in Scientific Reports. The gum extract was tested in the lab on patient samples, not chewed by anyone yet. Penn plans a clin
Researchers at the University of Pennsylvania's School of Dental Medicine have developed a bioengineered chewing gum that sharply reduced levels of HPV and cancer-linked bacteria in laboratory tests, according to a study published in Scientific Reports and led by Henry Daniell. Extracts from the gum cut HPV levels by up to 93% in saliva samples and 80% in oral rinse samples taken from patients with head and neck squamous cell carcinoma, a cancer of the mouth and throat closely tied to HPV infection. When the gum extract was combined with an antimicrobial peptide, a single piece killed nearly all measurable levels of Porphyromonas gingivalis and Fusobacterium nucleatum, two bacteria strongly associated with the same cancers. The work remains preclinical. No patient chewed the gum as part of the study; researchers instead collected samples and treated them with gum extract in the lab, so the results cannot show whether chewing the gum would actually prevent or treat cancer in practice. That is the question Penn Medicine's planned clinical trial, set to begin later this year, is designed to answer directly in HPV-positive patients. For now the findings establish that the compound is potent against the microbes in question in a controlled lab setting, not that the product works as an over-the-counter cancer prevention tool.