This archive report was first published on 14 September 2019.
On September 14, 2019, researchers from the University of Manchester made a groundbreaking discovery that could change the lives of cancer patients worldwide.
Chemotherapy, a common treatment for cancer, often leads to hair loss due to the damaging effects of taxanes, a class of cancer drugs. However, a team of scientists has found a way to prevent this hair loss by exploiting the properties of CDK4/6 inhibitors, a newer class of drugs already approved for cancer treatment.
According to Dr. Talveen Purba, lead author of the study, 'In the beginning, this seemed illogical, but we found that CDK4/6 inhibitors can be used temporarily to halt cell division without promoting additional toxic effects in the hair follicle.'
When organ-cultured human scalp hair follicles were bathed in CDK4/6 inhibitors, they were much less susceptible to the damaging effects of taxanes, as Dr. Purba noted.
Taxanes are commonly used to treat breast or lung carcinoma, causing significant distress among patients, particularly those with breast cancer, due to the long-lasting hair loss they can induce.
Dr. Purba explained that the main goal of the study was to understand how hair follicles respond to taxane chemotherapy and to protect the specialized dividing cells at the base of the hair follicle that produce hair.
With this breakthrough, cancer patients may soon have a new hope for preventing hair loss during treatment, reducing the physical and emotional trauma associated with it.
