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• Hair Gel for Chemotherapy Patients

• HairSite Editorial

• 4/15/00

SOURCE

• N/A

Cancer patients are usually advised to go under chemotherapy. The radiation based treatment works by killing cancer cells that are rapidly reproducing. However, the radiation also wreaks damage to hair follicles and cause hair loss in post-chemo patients.

A hair gel is currently under development by Glaxo Wellcome that will protect chemotherapy patients from losing their hair as a result of the treatment. The hair gel was tested on laboratory rats and have achieved remarkable results, according to Stephen Davis, a researcher at Glaxo. No side effects was reported.

Cancer cells reproduce and divide more rapidly than other cells in our body. Chemotherapy is programmed to distinguish these more rapidly reproducing cells so that the radiation treatment will leave the non-cancerous cells in our body unharmed. Unfortunately, hair follicles tend to reproduce and divide  more rapidly than our regular cells as well and they naturally become the target of chemotherapy just like any other cancerous cells.

The hair gel works by slowing down the reproduction rate of hair follicles so that they can escape from the radiation damage just like our normal cells. The gel is formulated with a key ingredient called GW8510 which inhibits an enzyme called cyclin-dependent kinase 2, one of the essential stimulants of cell reproduction.

In the experiments, a chemotherapy drug called Etoposide was given to the laboratory rats. Earlier experiments showed that 90% of the rats would suffer from hair loss under the treatment. When GW8510 was used in the experiment, 50% of the rats showed no signs of hair loss at all. The remaining achieved a 25% - 75% effectiveness.

According to the researchers, GW8510 appears to be effective against some commonly prescribed cancer drugs sich as Adriamycin and Cyclophosphamide.

As of now, no human testings has been scheduled.

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