Researchers from the Institute of Neurosciences (IN), a joint center of the Higher Council for Scientific Research (CSIC) and the Miguel Hernández University (UMH), have discovered how to prevent neuropathic pain associated with chemotherapy in colon cancer treatments, the second most diagnosed type of cancer. The study, carried out on mice, has been published in the journal “Brain”.
This finding is the result of several years of research by the Sensory Transduction and Nociception Group of the Institute of Neurosciences (CSIC-UMH), in Alicante, in collaboration with scientists from the company ESTEVE Pharmaceuticals.
“The results of our work show that treatment before chemotherapy with a sigma 1 receptor antagonista key protein in pain control, largely prevents the development of these neuropathic symptoms associated with the administration of one of the components of chemotherapy: oxaliplatin”, explains the researcher Elvira de la Pena.
A high percentage of cancer patients treated with chemotherapy develop hypersensitivity to cold and touch in the extremities and mouth. It is what is known as painful neuropathy by chemotherapeutic agents. The development of this painful neuropathy determines the maximum dose of chemotherapy administered and compromises its efficacy and patient survival and forces chemotherapy to be abandoned in some cases, compromising patient survival.
Colorectal is the second most diagnosed tumor and constitutes the second leading cause of cancer death. His chemotherapy treatment includes the use of oxaliplatin in combination with other antitumor drugs. In a large number of patients, oxaliplatin causes numbness or tingling in the fingers or pain in the hands and feet when touching metal objects, going outside in cold weather, or even showering or washing hands. These discomforts can become very incapacitating and affect the normal performance of daily activities, such as walking or dressing.
The tactile and thermal hypersensitivity in this neuropathy is known to be associated with alterations in a molecular sensor known as the TRPA1 ion channel, discovered by Ardem Patapoutianrecent Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine.
“Using biochemical techniques we show that the TRPA1 channel needs to interact with the sigma-1 receptor, forming a molecular complex, for its correct expression on the surface of neurons. Then, we verified that the mice treated with the antagonist of Sigma-1, a key protein in pain control, during the administration of oxaliplatin normalized their response to painful stimuli”, adds De la Peña.
“As in any basic research, carried out on experimental animals, we must be cautious when transferring these findings to the clinic. A clinical trial in patients is needed. However, these results are an important step in understanding this pathology and offer hope that in the future they can be used as a new therapy for the treatment and prevention of these disabling side effects of anticancer treatments”, concludes the researcher Félix Viana.
Now, they plan to determine if what they have discovered for oxaliplatin can be generalized to other anticancer agents used in the treatment of different tumors.