Cancer-fighting chewing gum cuts HPV levels by up to 93%
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- Henry Daniell of Penn Dental Medicine led a team that developed a bioengineered chewing gum made from lablab beans containing FRIL, a naturally occurring antiviral protein, tested in oral samples from HNSCC patients.
- The gum's extracts reduced HPV levels by 93% in saliva samples and 80% in oral rinse samples, according to the study published in Scientific Reports.
- Researchers engineered the bean gum to include protegrin, an antimicrobial peptide; a single dose drove levels of Porphyromonas gingivalis and Fusobacterium nucleatum—two bacteria linked to worsening oral cancer survival—to nearly zero.
- Unlike radiation therapy, which can reduce helpful bacteria while encouraging Candida albicans growth, the gum treatment did not appear to harm the beneficial oral microbiome.
- Daniell noted that lip and oral cavity cancer ranked as the seventh leading cancer in incidence and mortality worldwide among adolescents, young adults, and middle-aged adults in 2022, framing the gum as a candidate adjuvant or preventive therapy.
- The study was co-authored by researchers from Penn Dental Medicine, the University of Kansas Medical Center, UCLA, and the Veterans Administration Greater Los Angeles Healthcare System, with funding from NIH and the National Cancer Institute.
Why it matters: Head and neck squamous cell carcinoma affects the seventh most common cancer population globally and has seen limited survival gains from recent drugs, per Daniell. A gum that simultaneously knocks down HPV and two carcinogenic bacteria without wiping out protective oral microbes could slot in as a cheap, accessible add-on to surgery, radiation, or chemo—pending clinical trials.
