UK scientists find way to ‘halt chemo hair loss’

SCIENTISTS claim to have found a way to stop cancer patients from losing their hair during chemotherapy.

The destruction of healthy cells, as well as cancerous ones, causes common chemotherapy side effects such as hair loss.

However, researchers at the University of Manchester found coating follicles with another type of cancer drug may prevent hair loss.

Laboratory tests showed CDK4/6 inhibitors made hair follicles “less susceptible” to chemotherapy drugs called taxanes.

CDK4/6 inhibitors, which work by blocking cell division, slowed the multiplication of cells at the base of the hair follicles.

The researchers admitted their findings, published in the journal EMBO Molecular Medicine, sounded “counterintuitive”.

Chemotherapy is often the go-to treatment for cancer and works by targeting rapidly dividing cells, such as those in tumours.

However, chemo can also destroy cells in healthy tissue, such as those in hair follicles.

As many as 8% of patients may refuse chemo due to the “psychological burden” of hair loss, the researchers wrote.

Patients can wear cool caps, which reduce blood flow to the scalp by lowering its temperature. This prevents too much of the chemo drugs reaching the hair follicles.

However, they are not suitable or effective for all cancers and require patients spend longer in hospital.

Looking for a new approach, the scientists exposed human scalp hair follicles to both CDK4/6 inhibitors and taxanes.

“We found CDK4/6 inhibitors can be used temporarily to halt cell division without promoting additional toxic effects in the hair follicle,” lead author Dr Talveen Purba said.

“When we bathed organ-cultured human scalp hair follicles in

CDK4/6 inhibitors, the hair follicles were much less susceptible to the damaging effects of taxanes.”

Taxanes are used to treat different types of cancer, including those in the breasts and lungs.

Thousands of cancer sufferers in the US have filed claims against the pharma giant Sanofi over the lack of warning of the risk of permanent hair loss with the taxane drug Taxotere.

Sanofi rejects these claims and has blamed Food and Drug Administration (FDA) labelling rules. “A pivotal part of our study was to first get to grips with how exactly hair follicles responded to taxane chemotherapy,” Dr Purba said.

“We found the specialised dividing cells at the base of the hair follicle are critical for producing hair itself, and the stem cells from which they arise are most vulnerable to taxanes.

“Therefore, we must protect these cells most from undesired chemotherapy effects, but so the cancer doesn’t profit from it.”

The researchers hope their study will lead to more topical treatments that slow or suspend cell vision in a chemo patient’s scalp follicles.

These may also enhance the effects of existing treatments, like cool caps, they add.