Clinical trial · Interventional
Dissecting the Heterogeneity of Oral Cancer Pain
- Source
- ClinicalTrials.gov
- Retrieved
- Sep 8, 2026
- Layer
- normalized (units and labels harmonized; values unchanged)
- Run
- ING-CLINICALTRIALS-20260908-000001
Summary
Brief summary (as posted)
Oral squamous cell carcinoma (SCC) produces a higher prevalence and more severe pain than all other cancers. Orofacial pain is one of the most common initial symptoms of oral cancer and often leads to the diagnosis of oral cancer. However, the character, severity, and unique features of oral cancer widely differ between patients. There is currently no effective and lasting treatment available to alleviate suffering from oral cancer pain. A significant obstacle to effectively treating cancer pain is that the relative contributions of nociceptive mediators and their mechanisms of action (i.e., responsible receptors) are largely unknown. There is, therefore, a critical need to define the neurobiologic mechanisms responsible for oral cancer pain. Without such information, the promise of non-opioid therapy for the treatment of oral cancer pain will remain unfulfilled. The primary objective of this study is to define and quantify the phenotype of oral cancer pain in patients, by comparing mechano- and chemosensitivity in oral cancer patients with healthy subjects. Pain will be stimulated on the site of cancer in 40 oral cancer patients and on the tongue in 40 healthy volunteers utilizing chemical sensitivity and mechanical sensitivity tests.
Conditions
Conditions (1)
Free-text conditions as registered, with the CancerIndex entity they were reconciled to and the match type.
| Condition (as posted) | Mapped entity | Match | Confidence |
|---|---|---|---|
| Oral Squamous Cell Carcinoma | Oral Cavity Squamous Cell Carcinoma | ALIAS | 0.90 |
Interventions
Interventions (2)
| Intervention | Type | Mapped drug | Match |
|---|---|---|---|
| Chemical sensitivity | Other | — | UNRESOLVED |
| Mechanical sensitivity | Other | — | UNRESOLVED |
Design
Arms and outcomes
Arms (0)
[]Primary outcomes (2)
- measure
- Mechanical Sensitivity
- timeFrame
- Baseline visit
- description
- Pain will be evaluated using verbal feedback from participants for mechanical sensitivity testing.
- measure
- Chemical Sensitivity
- timeFrame
- Baseline visit
- description
- Pain will be evaluated using a visual analogue scale for chemical sensitivity testing.
Eligibility
Eligibility (as posted)
- Sex
- All
- Minimum age
- 18 Years
Show eligibility criteria text
Inclusion Criteria (oral cancer patients): * Biopsy-proven squamous cell carcinoma (SCC) of the oral cavity that requires surgical resection * Lesion is at least 1 cm in greatest surface dimension Exclusion Criteria (oral cancer patients): * History of prior surgical, chemotherapeutic, or radiation treatment for head and neck cancer * Pregnancy or lactation Inclusion Criteria (healthy subjects): * In good general health as evidenced by medical history Exclusion Criteria (healthy subjects): * Clinically and/or histologically proven oral pre-cancer, oral cancer * Pregnancy or lactation
References
Publications (4)
- BACKGROUNDSchmidt BL, Hamamoto DT, Simone DA, Wilcox GL. Mechanism of cancer pain. Mol Interv. 2010 Jun;10(3):164-78. doi: 10.1124/mi.10.3.7. PMID 20539035
- BACKGROUNDSchmidt BL. The neurobiology of cancer pain. Neuroscientist. 2014 Oct;20(5):546-62. doi: 10.1177/1073858414525828. Epub 2014 Mar 24. PMID 24664352
- BACKGROUNDYang F, Zheng J. Understand spiciness: mechanism of TRPV1 channel activation by capsaicin. Protein Cell. 2017 Mar;8(3):169-177. doi: 10.1007/s13238-016-0353-7. Epub 2017 Jan 2. PMID 28044278
- BACKGROUNDJordt SE, Bautista DM, Chuang HH, McKemy DD, Zygmunt PM, Hogestatt ED, Meng ID, Julius D. Mustard oils and cannabinoids excite sensory nerve fibres through the TRP channel ANKTM1. Nature. 2004 Jan 15;427(6971):260-5. doi: 10.1038/nature02282. Epub 2004 Jan 7. PMID 14712238