from the BBC: scary news that chemo kills more brain cells than cancer cells!

[Lani]

Chemo drugs 'destroy brain cells'

Chemotherapy can cause severe side effects
Drugs used to destroy cancer cells may actually be more harmful to healthy cells in the brain, research suggests.
A team from New York's University of Rochester found several types of key brain cell were highly vulnerable to the drugs.

They say it might help explain side effects such as seizures and memory loss associated with chemotherapy - collectively dubbed 'chemo brain'.



This is the first study that puts chemo brain on a sound scientific footing

Drug therapy for cancer can prompt a wide range of neurological side effects, even the onset of dementia.

But they were thought not to be directly linked to the drug treatment itself.

Instead, some doctors have put them down to the patient's vulnerable psychological state.

The latest study, carried out on mice and one human cells in the lab, found that dose levels typically used when treating patients killed 40% to 80% of cancer cells - but 70% to 100% of brain cells.

Several types of healthy brain cell continued to die for at least six weeks after exposure.


Lead researcher Dr Mark Noble said: "This is the first study that puts chemo brain on a sound scientific footing, in terms of neurobiology and cellular biology."

The Rochester team carried out tests with three drugs used to treat a wide range of cancers: carmustine, cisplatin and cytosine arabinoside.

All three drugs were toxic to several types of brain cell whose job is to repair other cells in the brain - even at very low concentrations.

They also killed off oligodenrocyte cells, which play a key role in the transmission of messages around the nervous system.

The researchers suggest damage to cells in the hippocampus, which is responsible for memory and learning, is most likely to explain chemo brain symptoms.

Professor John Toy, Cancer Research UK¿s medical director, said: "The doses of therapy needed to treat cancer while leaving the body's healthy cells as unharmed as possible is a fine balance judged by experienced specialists.

"They aim to maximise benefits and minimise damage. Unfortunately side-effects can include toxicity to the brain.

"This research in mice may hopefully suggest new ways of researching how this toxicity might be overcome.