Skip to content

News Center | Georgia Institute of Technology Georgia Institute of Technology

Search

Search form

  • Facebook
  • Twitter
  • YouTube
  • LinkedIn
  • News Home
  • Campus Map
  • Directory
  • Offices

News Center

Menu
Close
  • Calendar
  • Categories
    • Business and Economic Development
    • Campus and Community
    • Earth and Environment
    • Health and Medicine
    • Science and Technology
    • Society and Culture
    • Feature Stories
  • Media Contacts
  • Experts
    • Find an Expert
    • Featured Expert
  • Daily Digest
  • The Whistle
    • Home
    • Classifieds
    • Archives
  • Social Media
  • Subscribe
  • You are here:
  • GT Home
  • Georgia Tech NewsCenter
  • Home
  • Chemotherapy and Cancer Gang up to Cause a Neurological Side Effect, Study Says

Science and Technology Health and Medicine

Chemotherapy and Cancer Gang up to Cause a Neurological Side Effect, Study Says

By Ben Brumfield | June 8, 2020 • Atlanta, GA

NCI stock image of cancer patient
Click image to enlarge

Stock photo illustrating the administering of chemotherapy. Credit: National Cancer Institute

Download Image
MORE PHOTOS

Contrary to common medical guidance, chemotherapy does not appear to be the only culprit in neuropathy, a neurological side effect of cancer treatment, a new study says. Cancer itself contributes heavily, too, and the stresses on neurons appear far worse than the sum of the two causes.

“There was some distress caused by cancer alone and some distress from chemo alone, but when you put the two things together, it was off the charts, seven times the trauma to neurons of the two things added together,” said Nick Housley, first author of the study performed in rats at the Georgia Institute of Technology. “It turned out to be the first-ever evidence that there is this exacerbation going on.”

Every year in the U.S., there are 1.8 million new cancer diagnoses, and about half of patients receive platinum-based drugs, which are very effective. About 40 percent of patients receiving platinum chemotherapy come down with neuropathy, suffering strange sensations, pain, fatigue, or loss of muscle coordination that impedes day-to-day life. Neuropathy can persist for years after chemotherapy ends.

Hope for treatment

The new study also challenges established medical explanations that neuropathy is caused by structural damage to nerves alone and that it is untreatable.

“The idea of damage has been the standard explanation – that these neurons are dying back and that they are retracting. And we have found time and time again zero evidence of this in the neurons we studied here,” Housley said. 

“The evidence does not support physical damage as the basis for the disabilities we observe. We find functional problems that might be fixable,” said Tim Cope, one of two principal investigators of the study. Functional problems usually refer to neurons not firing properly versus actual tears or shrinkage in neurons.

Cope is a professor in Georgia Tech’s School of Biological Sciences and in the Wallace H. Coulter Department of Biomedical Engineering at Georgia Tech and Emory University. Housley is a postdoctoral researcher in his lab.

The researchers published their results in the journal Cancer Research on April 28, 2020. The research was funded by the National Institutes of Health’s National Cancer Institute. John McDonald, the other principal investigator, is a professor in Georgia Tech’s School of Biological Sciences and the director of Georgia Tech’s Integrative Cancer Research Center.

Gene expression surprises

To explore neuropathy’s causes, the researchers cast a broad net. They examined gene expression in neurons, protein expression, and neuron signaling, and they measured body movements, which became markedly uncoordinated.

Gene dysregulation went into overdrive in reaction to chemo and cancer, including boosting inflammatory responses while suppressing some of neurons’ protective mechanisms. But despite the plethora of gene regulation red flags, there were also surprising signs of intact neuron health. 

“Many things the neuron relies on to live and function were unscathed on the gene expression level. That’s potentially good news for patients and for fixing neuropathy because it means there may be just one thing or a few things to fix to restore normal functioning,” Cope said. “The downregulation of just a few genes may be responsible for the problems we’ve seen.”

Ion channel mystery

Clues from one downregulated gene took a twist that led to a new scientific discovery in neuronal biology before arriving at what appeared to be a pathology.

The downregulated gene is responsible for creating protein structures called ion channels that appear in a neuron’s cell wall and enable the neuron to fire electrical impulses, i.e. action potentials. Ion channels abruptly shuttle potassium ions (K+) and sodium ions (Na+) in and out of cells, flipping the net negative and net positive charges on either side of cell walls, which creates the action potentials.

This particular downregulated gene was for a potassium ion channel called Kv3.3, which was not previously known to exist in muscle spindles – neural receptors embedded in muscles to sense when they are contracting or stretching. The researchers found the channel to be prolific there.

“That was a discovery in its own right in basic neuroscience. Finding its involvement in this sensory-motor problem was also profound,” Housley said.

Most Kv3.3 expression disappeared under the combination of chemo and cancer. More research is needed to establish whether the lack of Kv3.3 is indeed an important contributor to neuropathy, but in this study, it strongly correlated with observed neural pathology.

“Despite the neurons still having the ability to fire action potentials, the process of neurons encoding information was really corrupted,” Housley said.

Also read: App Detects Harsh Side Effect of Breast Cancer Treatment

The following researchers from Georgia Tech coauthored the study: Paul Nardelli, Dario Carrasco, Travis Rotterman, Emily Pfahl, and Lilya Matyunina. The research was funded by the National Institutes of Health’s National Cancer Institute (grants R01CA221363 and R01HD090642). Any findings, conclusions, and recommendations are those of the authors and not necessarily of the NCI.

Here's how to subscribe to our free science and technology email newsletter

Writer & media inquiries: Ben Brumfield (404-272-2780), ben.brumfield@comm.gatech.edu or John Toon (404-894-6986), jtoon@gatech.edu.

Georgia Institute of Technology

Additional Photos

  • NCI stock image of cancer patient 2
     

    NCI stock image of cancer patient 2

    Stock photo illustrating the administering of chemotherapy. Credit: National Cancer Institute

    Download Image
  • Chemo and cancer team up for neuronal gene dysregulation
     

    Chemo and cancer team up for neuronal gene dysregulation

    In blue, the effects of chemotherapy alone on differential neuronal gene expression. The same in red for cancer. Purple represents differential gene expression under the combination of chemo and cancer. This includes much dysregulation of genes that occurs neither with chemo alone nor cancer alone. Credit: Georgia Tech / Housley / Cope 

    Download Image

Contact Information

Categories

Science and Technology Health and Medicine

News Categories

  • Business and Economic Development
  • Campus and Community
  • Earth and Environment
  • Health and Medicine
  • Science and Technology
  • Society and Culture

Expert Voices

James Wray

James Wray (Photo Fitrah Hamid)

More Hints of Life on Ancient Mars
James Wray
School of Earth and Atmospheric Sciences
Mariel Borowitz

Photo by Rob Felt

Half of Earth’s satellites restrict use of climate data
Mariel Borowitz
Sam Nunn School of Int'l Affairs

Featured Videos

Seth Osekre, a custodian in Facilities Management, follows safety protocols when cleaning. (Video by Allison Carter)

2020 graduate TJ Weiler talks about his journey to earning a Georgia Tech degree.

Georgia Tech Resources

  • Offices & Departments
  • News Center
  • Campus Calendar
  • Special Events
  • GreenBuzz
  • Institute Communications
  • Visitor Resources
  • Campus Visits
  • Directions to Campus
  • Visitor Parking Information
  • GTvisitor Wireless Network Information
  • Georgia Tech Global Learning Center
  • Georgia Tech Hotel & Conference Center
  • Barnes & Noble at Georgia Tech
  • Ferst Center for the Arts
  • Robert C. Williams Paper Museum

Colleges, Instructional Sites & Research

  • Colleges
  • College of Computing
  • College of Design
  • College of Engineering
  • College of Sciences
  • Ivan Allen College of Liberal Arts
  • Scheller College of Business
  • Instructional Sites
  • Georgia Tech-Lorraine
  • Georgia Tech-Savannah
  • Georgia Tech-Shenzhen
  • Georgia Tech Online
  • Professional Education
  • The Language Institute
  • Global Footprint
  • Global Engagement
  • Research
  • Georgia Tech Research Institute
  • Research at Georgia Tech
  • Executive Vice President for Research

Student & Parent Resources

  • Student Resources
  • Apply
  • BuzzPort
  • Buzzcard
  • Career Center
  • Co-ops & Internships
  • Commencement
  • Library
  • Student Life
  • Student Entrepreneurship
  • Study Abroad
  • T-Square
  • Parent Resources
  • Parent and Family Programs
  • Dean of Students
  • Scholarships & Financial Aid

Employee, Alumni, & Other Resources

  • Employees
  • Administration and Finance
  • Advising & Teaching
  • Faculty Affairs
  • Faculty Hiring
  • Human Resources
  • Office of the Provost
  • TechWorks
  • Alumni
  • Alumni Association
  • Alumni Career Services
  • Giving Back to Tech
  • Outreach
  • Startup Companies
  • Economic Development
  • Industry Engagement
  • Government & Community Partners
  • Professional Education
Map of News Center | Georgia Institute of Technology

Georgia Institute of Technology
North Avenue, Atlanta, GA 30332
Phone: (404) 894-2000

  • Contact Us
  • Site Feedback
  • Tech Lingo
  • Emergency Information
  • Legal & Privacy Information
  • Human Trafficking Notice
  • Accessibility
  • Accountability
  • Accreditation
  • Employment
Georgia Tech

© Georgia Institute of Technology