Brain Damage Newsroom

Study Offers More Clues To Chemo Brain

Chemotherapy drugs used to treat many common cancers may harm brain cells, U.S. research suggests.

These findings may help explain why some cancer patients suffer "chemo brain" -- chemotherapy-associated neurological side effects such as reduced cognitive function, the study authors said.

A team at the University of Rochester found that clinical doses of the chemotherapy drugs cisplatin, carmustine and cytarabine caused long-term brain damage in mice. The drug killed neural stem cells and oligodendrocytes, which produce the myelin insulation needed for normal neuronal function. The drugs also impaired neural stem cell division.

Reporting in the Nov. 29 Journal of Biology, the Rochester team found that cells in the mice's nervous systems continued to die for at least six weeks after the end of treatment with the chemotherapy drugs.

In laboratory tests, the researchers also examined the effect of the three chemotherapy drugs on human neural cells and on different kinds of cancer cells. They found that the drugs were more toxic to the human neural cells than to the cancer cells.

A Japanese study published Monday in the journal Cancer found that breast cancer patients undergoing chemotherapy suffered temporary shrinking in brain regions that control memory and concentration.