Protection from chemotherapy-induced alopecia in a rat model.

Abstract

Alopecia (hair loss) is among the most distressing side effects of cancer chemotherapy. Little progress has been made, however, in its prevention or treatment, partly because of the lack of suitable experimental model. In recent work on the treatment of myelogenous leukemia in the rat, the following observations were made: (i) treatment of 8-day-old rats with cytosine arabinoside consistently produced alopecia, and (ii) ImuVert, a biologic response modifier derived from the bacterium Serratia marcescens, uniformly produced complete protection against the alopecia. In subsequent experiments, both cyclophosphamide and doxorubicin also produced alopecia in this model, and the doxorubicin-induced alopecia was prevented by treatment with ImuVert. The potential relevance of these observations to chemotherapy-induced alopecia in the clinical setting should be examined.

• Authors: A M Hussein, J J Jimenez, C A McCall, A A Yunis
• Journal: Science (New York, N.Y.) (Science) Vol. 249 Issue 4976 Pg. 1564-6 (Sep 28 1990) ISSN: 0036-8075 [Print] United States
• PMID: 2218498 (Publication Type: Journal Article, Research Support, Non-U.S. Gov't, Research Support, U.S. Gov't, P.H.S.)

Chemical References

• Biological Products
• Immunologic Factors
• ImuVert
• Cytarabine

Topics

• Alopecia (chemically induced, prevention & control)
• Animals
• Biological Products
• Cytarabine (therapeutic use, toxicity)
• Disease Models, Animal
• Immunologic Factors (therapeutic use)
• Leukemia, Experimental (drug therapy)
• Rats
• Rats, Inbred F344
• Skin (drug effects, pathology)