Towards a Viral Etiology of Periodontal Disease in Relation to Radiotherapy Treatment of Head and Neck Cancers

March 20, 2026 updated by: Centre Hospitalier Universitaire de Nice

The treatment of otolaryngology (OLR) cancer is based on surgery, radiation, sometimes used in combination with chemotherapy. Patients treated with radiotherapy have multiple oral diseases: mucositis, hyposalivation, tissue fibrosis, exacerbation of periodontitis. Over 70% of patients with head and neck cancers treated with radiotherapy have a lower level of dental clinical attachment and 92% have loose teeth or missing. The management of these oral complications is a priority in OLR oncology. The aim is to improve the oral health of patients to achieve a comfortable life acceptable and necessary for healing.

This project proposes to deepen the investigation with two main objectives:

  1. To study in vivo the effect of radiation treatment on the evolution of the viral flora of the periodontium in a cohort of patients and matched controls.
  2. To study in vitro the effects of irradiation on the replication EBV (herpesvirus) in producing websites lymphoepithelial tonsillar, and atypical dendritic cells associated with EBV that existence were recently discovered.

Study Overview

Status

Completed

Conditions

Intervention / Treatment

Study Type

Interventional

Enrollment (Actual)

25

Phase

  • Not Applicable

Contacts and Locations

This section provides the contact details for those conducting the study, and information on where this study is being conducted.

Study Locations

  • France
      • Nice, France
        • Hôpital Saint Roch

Participation Criteria

Researchers look for people who fit a certain description, called eligibility criteria. Some examples of these criteria are a person's general health condition or prior treatments.

Eligibility Criteria

Ages Eligible for Study

18 years to 80 years (Adult, Older Adult)

Accepts Healthy Volunteers

No

Description

Inclusion Criteria:

  • Patients ≥ 18 years
  • Patients treated with curative radiotherapy on tumor site or surgery for cancer of the oral cavity and / or oropharynx
  • Patients naive treatments for head and neck cancers
  • Patients affiliated or beneficiary of a social security scheme
  • Patients who gave informed consent in writing

Exclusion Criteria:

  • Patients treated with neoadjuvant chemotherapy, adjuvant or concomitant
  • Patients taking immunosuppressants after organ transplantation
  • Taking anticoagulants incompatible with dental samples (possible bleeding)
  • Patients edentulous and / or whose dental condition is incompatible with the dental samples

Study Plan

This section provides details of the study plan, including how the study is designed and what the study is measuring.

How is the study designed?

Design Details

  • Primary Purpose: Basic Science
  • Allocation: N/A
  • Interventional Model: Single Group Assignment
  • Masking: None (Open Label)

Arms and Interventions

Participant Group / Arm
Intervention / Treatment
Experimental: periodontal disease
Saliva samples
Biological: periodontal pocket samples

What is the study measuring?

Primary Outcome Measures

Outcome Measure
Time Frame
Measure of level of EBV nucleic acids
Time Frame: day 1
day 1
Measure of level of EBV nucleic acids
Time Frame: day 180
day 180

Collaborators and Investigators

This is where you will find people and organizations involved with this study.

Sponsor

Centre Hospitalier Universitaire de Nice

Publications and helpful links

The person responsible for entering information about the study voluntarily provides these publications. These may be about anything related to the study.

General Publications

Study record dates

These dates track the progress of study record and summary results submissions to ClinicalTrials.gov. Study records and reported results are reviewed by the National Library of Medicine (NLM) to make sure they meet specific quality control standards before being posted on the public website.

Study Major Dates

Study Start (Actual)

October 20, 2014

Primary Completion (Actual)

July 3, 2015

Study Completion (Actual)

December 3, 2015

Study Registration Dates

First Submitted

May 20, 2014

First Submitted That Met QC Criteria

July 1, 2014

First Posted (Estimated)

July 3, 2014

Study Record Updates

Last Update Posted (Actual)

March 24, 2026

Last Update Submitted That Met QC Criteria

March 20, 2026

Last Verified

March 1, 2026

More Information

Terms related to this study

Additional Relevant MeSH Terms

Other Study ID Numbers

  • 13-GIRCI-01

This information was retrieved directly from the website clinicaltrials.gov without any changes. If you have any requests to change, remove or update your study details, please contact register@clinicaltrials.gov. As soon as a change is implemented on clinicaltrials.gov, this will be updated automatically on our website as well.

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