Drugs used to destroy cancer cells may actually be more harmful to healthy cells in the brain, research suggests, done by a team from New York’s University of Rochester. They found several types of key brain cell were highly vulnerable to the drugs.
Chemotherapy can cause long-term brain damage, gives scientists clues to the causes of “chemo brain”, a side effect many cancer patients complain of while under treatment, a summary of the research said.
Mark Noble, a specialist in neural stem cell biology at the University of Rochester, New York, led the research team, said it might be possible to add protective agents to chemotherapy drugs.