Existing Drug May Alleviate Side Effects of Cancer Treatment

Cancer treatments often involve surgery, radiation and chemotherapy, which may be administered separately or conjointly, in accordance with a patient’s treatment plan. Commonly prescribed potent chemotherapy drugs include cisplatin, which was first discovered in 1965 at Michigan State University. Cisplatin has proven to be an effective chemotherapy medication that can be useful in the treatment of various solid cancers, including lung, ovarian, testicular, head and neck, bladder and stomach.

However, this drug also causes many side effects, including nausea and vomiting; kidney toxicity, which may cause kidney failure in roughly 35% of patients ingesting the drug; and peripheral neuropathy, which causes severe pain in an individual’s feet and hands. Monitoring kidney function is especially crucial for patients on cisplatin, as this reduces the risk of experiencing cisplatin-induced toxicity.

So to help manage these symptoms, researchers have been conducting trials on already available medications in an effort to find some that can mitigate these side effects. Now, a recently conducted study has found that a drug known as istradefylline, which has been approved for use in treating Parkinson’s disease by the FDA, may help alleviate cisplatin’s negative effects.

The study was carried out by a team of researchers from the University of Coimbra in Portugal, the Pasteur Institute of Lille in France, the University of Strasbourg and the University of Lille, in collaboration with Geoffroy Laumet of Michigan State University. Laumet, who is specialized in cisplatin-induced neuropathic pain, is an assistant professor at the institution’s College of Natural Science.

The international team of investigators, together with Laumet, demonstrated through their research that istradefylline not only decreased kidney toxicity but also improved tumor control and relieved peripheral neuropathy; the researchers noted that this drug did so without affecting cisplatin’s effectiveness. Laumet also revealed that the research team had observed istradefylline blocking the effects of adenosine, which is usually released by tumor cells and other cells negatively affected by cisplatin’s toxicity.

It should be noted, however, that while istradefylline (KW6002) is approved for use in humans, the current experiments demonstrating its effectiveness in mitigating the negative effects of cisplatin have only been carried out in animal models thus far. The researchers hope to collaborate with scientists who specialize in human clinical trials soon in an effort to increase their understanding of how the drug works while also testing its safety for use in patients suffering from various cancers who are undergoing cisplatin treatment.

The study’s findings have been published in the “Journal of Clinical Investigation.”

Pain is also another side effect that comes with conventional cancer treatment, and so far, not many solutions are available. Alternative treatments for pain, such as those being developed by India Globalization Capital Inc. (NYSE American: IGC), could offer hope to cancer patients facing chronic pain due to their cancer treatment.

NOTE TO INVESTORS: The latest news and updates relating to India Globalization Capital Inc. (NYSE American: IGC) are available in the company’s newsroom at https://ibn.fm/IGC

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