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Gel prevents chemotherapy hair loss in rats
By Lisa Richwine
SAN FRANCISCO, April 2 (Reuters) - A clear gel rubbed on the scalps of rats was able to
prevent hair loss from chemotherapy, one of the most distressing side effects of cancer
treatment, scientists said Sunday.
A researcher for developer Glaxo Wellcome Inc. said the company hopes to start human tests
of the gel, which includes a drug known as GW8510, to see if it could help reduce the trauma
of chemotherapy.
Stephen Davis, the researcher who led the studies, said the gel completely prevented hair loss in half of the rats that subsequently
underwent chemotherapy. No side effects were detected and the drug did not interfere with the cancer-killing effects of the
treatment, Davis said.
``We noticed a marked protection of the hair. It was just stunning,' Davis told reporters attending the annual meeting of the
American Association for Cancer Research.
Each year about 1 million Americans are diagnosed with cancer and about 500,000 die from the disease. For those undergoing
chemotherapy, hair loss is second only to nausea on the list of most bothersome side effects, scientists said.
``There is a tremendous unmet need to ... eliminate this additional stress factor among patients already emotionally devastated by a
cancer diagnosis,' Davis said.
People fear hair loss so much that some even avoid cancer screening that could detect the disease in its early stages when it is
easiest to treat, said Dr. William Hait, a cancer specialist who reviewed Glaxo's studies on GW8510.
A drug to prevent hair loss would have ``an enormous impact not just on the patient receiving therapy but on the fear it generates,'
said Hait, who heads the Cancer Institute of New Jersey.
Hair falls out because chemotherapy drugs aim to kill rapidly dividing cancer cells but also hit the cells surrounding hair follicles
that divide quickly.
An enzyme known as cyclin-dependent kinase 2, or CDK2, is involved in cell division, Davis said. Researchers theorized that
developing a drug to inhibit the enzyme would temporarily stop the division of hair cells and therefore protect them from the
devastating effects of cancer drugs.
By applying GW8510 directly to the scalp, the drug does not enter the bloodstream and affects only the hair cells and not the
cancer cells, Davis said.
If proven to work in people, cancer patients likely would apply the gel in the morning before each chemotherapy treatment, Davis
said. Patients could wash it out later.
Davis' team tested the GW8510 gel against the chemotherapy drug etoposide, which is used to fight a variety of cancers. They
hope to study the gel's power in humans undergoing treatment for advanced breast cancer, he said. |
