New information may help personalize chemotherapy treatments
In the first study of its kind to examine the human genome for predictors of chemotherapy side effects, researchers isolated gene variations with the potential to cause chemotherapy-induced peripheral neuropathy in patients.
Exome sequencing was performed by Andreas Beutler, MD, an oncologist at Mayo Clinic Cancer Center and senior author of the study, and his colleagues on 20,794 genes from 119 cancer patients. More than half of the study patients had developed chemotherapy-induced peripheral neuropathy during a previous chemotherapy clinical trial.
For the study, 50 hereditary neuropathy genes were examined. One, EPHA5, appeared to carry the potential to cause chemotherapy-induced peripheral neuropathy in patients. When assessing the 20,000 remaining genes, researchers discovered that chemotherapy-induced peripheral neuropathy was associated with 2 other genes, ARHGEF10 and PRX. With another group of 75 cancer patients, the researchers confirmed these discoveries.
Study results suggest shared genetic roots among hereditary neuropathy and chemotherapy-induced peripheral neuropathy in some patients. In the future, this information may allow for the personalization of chemotherapy treatment.
Source: Mayo Clinic.