Funded by The Little Princess Trust and administered by CCLG
Lead investigator: Prof Lucy Donaldson, University of Nottingham
Award: £95,820.30
Awarded August 2019
Vincristine is a chemotherapy drug that is regularly used to treat several different types of cancers in children and young people. However, because there are multiple side-effects associated with this form of therapy, more research is needed to find ways of reducing these. Professor Donaldson’s project will trial a new way to prevent one of the side-effects of Vincristine chemotherapy.
When we use chemotherapy to treat cancer, we can only give people a certain amount, because if we give more there can be bad side effects. One of the most common side-effects of Vincristine chemotherapy that people get is tingling, pins-and-needles and pain in their hands and feet. This is because the chemotherapy can damage nerves, as well as attacking the cancer.
These odd feelings can happen during chemotherapy treatment, as well as lasting for a much longer time after chemotherapy. One of the most difficult side effects for children and young adults to deal with is chronic pain caused by their Vincristine treatment. This pain can last for years in some people, and it is very difficult to treat.
Professor Donaldson’s research team have invented new chemicals that may help to stop this happening. They will test these chemicals for their effects on stopping nerve damage from Vincristine and see whether the longer lasting pain can be reversed. This project is the first step in developing completely new ways of stopping the long-lasting pain and nerve damage caused by chemotherapy. At the moment, we have no treatments that we can use for this, so these experiments could contribute to new drugs that would improve the lives of people after cancer treatment.