'Double weapon' found in chemo hair loss research
PAScientists say they have discovered a "powerful double weapon" in efforts to prevent cancer patients losing hair during chemotherapy.
The method combines scalp cooling, where a patient wears a cold cap, with a lotion containing antioxidants to help limit the damage caused by cancer drug side effects.
The Sheffield Hallam University study also suggests the most effective scalp temperature for keeping hair, with cooling to 18C preventing follicle damage for some.
Those behind the project now hope the laboratory research will soon be trialled on cancer patients.
The technique works by restricting blood flow to the scalp, which reduces the amount of medication reaching hair follicles.
Researchers found that when combined with cooling, the use of topical antioxidants could "transform the ability of cooling to protect" against hair loss.
Dr Nik Georgopoulos, associate professor of cell biology at Sheffield Hallam, described hair loss as "the face of cancer".
"People get hair loss because at the base of the hair follicles are rapidly-dividing cells that are actually feeling the toxicity of chemotherapy drugs," he explained.
"Chemotherapy drugs kill rapidly-dividing cancer cells, but they cannot discriminate between cancer cells and rapidly-dividing normal cells in the body."
In the study, published in Frontiers in Pharmacology, hair follicles were isolated from the scalp and grown in the lab before being treated with chemotherapy.
Dr Georgopoulos said the team found cooling the cells can help protect them from damage.
Explaining why cooling worked for some patients but not others, he added: "Some heads, I call them stubborn, they don't cool enough."
But adding the topical antioxidant formed a "powerful double weapon" based on lab results, researchers said.
Scientists are now said to be finalising the antioxidants used in the topical product.
He added: "Our ongoing work will ensure that efficacy is as high as possible with the belief that a topical agent will not only dramatically enhance the efficacy of scalp cooling, but also significantly accelerates hair recovery post chemotherapy."
Listen to highlights from South Yorkshire on BBC Sounds, catch up with the latest episode of Look North