Researchers say they have found a “powerful double weapon” that could help cancer patients keep their hair during chemotherapy.
The new method combines scalp cooling – where patients use cold caps to reduce hair loss from cancer drugs – with a lotion, comprised of antioxidants – some of which are found in red grapes.
Hailed as a “milestone,” researchers at Sheffield Hallam University also pinpointed the optimal temperature for scalp cooling to be most effective for keeping hair.
Cold caps are already used by some cancer patients during chemotherapy to help minimise the amount of hair they lose.
They work by restricting blood flow to the scalp, which reduces the amount of medication reaching the hair follicles.
But the team at Sheffield Hallam University found that cooling the scalp to 18C (64.4F) can prevent hair follicle damage, while 26C may not be enough, and that topical antioxidants could “transform the ability of cooling to protect” against hair loss.
Dr Nik Georgopoulos, an associate professor of cell biology and Transforming Lives fellow at Sheffield Hallam, told PA: “Chemotherapy drugs are drugs that kill rapidly dividing cancer cells, but they cannot discriminate between cancer cells and rapidly dividing normal cells in the body.
“At the base of our hair follicles are these rapidly dividing cells, or keratinocytes, that constantly grow and they end up forming the actual hair.”
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For the study, published in Frontiers of Pharmacology, hair follicles were isolated from the scalp and grown in the lab before being treated with chemotherapy to study the impact.
“We show that they die,” Dr Georgopoulos said. “The cells that are rapidly dividing and grow the hair, they will die because of the toxicity of chemotherapy.
“But if you cool them, they are protected, and I don’t mean just protected – prevented from dying. So if cooling is used while the hair follicles are grown in the lab, it can completely prevent the toxicity.”
The associate professor noted, however, that “there is a catch – you have to use the right temperature,” but added that “our research has shown that cooling can slow down the cells, stops them from dividing – protection”.
He said that any issues with temperature could also be compensated with a topical location containing antioxidants like resveratrol, found in the likes of red grapes and peanuts, and dietary supplement N-Acetylcysteine. Dr Georgopoulos described the combination as a “powerful double weapon”.
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Dr Georgopoulos has also been working with Huddersfield-based business Paxman Scalp Cooling, which created a device that circulates coolant through a specially designed cooling cap.
The cooling cap is worn for half an hour before chemotherapy treatment commences, during treatment, and for up to 90 minutes after all the drugs have been given.
Researchers are now hoping to trial the technique using the Paxman device and are currently finalising the antioxidants to be used.
