New study may lead to effective treatment to prevent common chemotherapy side effects in cancer patients

Annually, hundreds of thousands of patients battling cancer undergo chemotherapy, which often results in poorly tolerated side effects such as nausea, vomiting, and loss of the desire to eat.

Bart C. De Jonghe, Ph.D., Assistant Professor of Nursing and senior author of a new study published in the highly regarded Journal of Neuroscience, has advanced our understanding of how chemotherapy causes side effects related to nausea, vomiting, and anorexia using pre-clinical rodent models of chemotherapy-induced illness.

"This publication shows that blocking specific receptors for the neurotransmitter glutamate within the amygdala, an area of the brain associated with feeding, sickness, and emotion, results in a robust alleviation of sickness and anorexia produced by cisplatin chemotherapy treatment in the animals. This work has also helped us construct a clearer picture of how the anatomy of the brain is organized and connected to facilitate these observations. It is our hope that this knowledge can be used to inform future research with the goal of further limiting, or even altogether preventing, common chemotherapy side effects in cancer patients," Dr. De Jonghe explains.

In his role as senior author and director of the project, Dr. De Jonghe coordinated with lead author Dr. Amber Alhadeff Ph.D. as part of an ongoing research collaboration between the De Jonghe laboratory and the laboratory of Dr. Harvey Grill, Ph.D. in the Department of Psychology. This work also highlights Penn undergraduates as partners in Dr. De Jonghe's transdisciplinary research, with laboratory members Ruby A. Holland (SAS '16) and recent BSN graduate Alexandra Nelson (SON '14) earning co-authorship on the paper as a result of their significant contributions.

Source: University of Pennsylvania School of Nursing