Childhood Chemo's Effects on Healthy Tissues Revealed
A new study published in Science reveals that platinum-based chemotherapy causes DNA damage in healthy liver cells, effectively 'aging' them prematurely. Researchers hope these findings will lead to new protective treatments to reduce long-term health risks for childhood cancer survivors.
Why it matters
This research provides a biological explanation for the chronic health issues faced by cancer survivors and offers a roadmap for developing safer pediatric cancer therapies.
The amount of DNA damage caused by certain chemotherapies used to effectively treat childhood cancer has been revealed, along with a hidden impact on the liver, paving the way for future research into new ways to mitigate these impacts.
Platinum-based chemotherapy drugs are powerful at treating cancer but can have an under-appreciated impact on the rest of the body. To investigate this, a team at the Wellcome Sanger Institute, the University of Cambridge, the Francis Crick Institute, and King's College London used new sequencing technologies and found distinctive DNA damage in the liver. They suggest that further research could lead to new ways to protect against this.
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