SLU Researchers Find MS Drug Can Treat Chemotherapy Pain

Researchers at Saint Louis University have found a potential treatment for patients who suffer pain during chemotherapy. Daniela Salvemini, who works as a professor of pharmacological and physiological sciences at SLU, said that her team’s research uncovered a molecular pathway through which pain occurs during chemotherapy, and discovered how the MS drug FTY720 can stop that pain from occurring.

This discovery could be an important step towards easing the pain that comes with current chemotherapy methods, Salvemini says. “The chemotherapy drug paclitaxel is widely used to treat many forms of cancer, including breast, ovarian and lung cancers," said Salvemini. "Though it is highly effective, the medication, like many other chemotherapy drugs, frequently is accompanied by a debilitating side effect called chemotherapy induced peripheral neuropathy, or CIPN."

CIPN affects between 30 to 90 percent of all patients treated with taxanes and other chemotherapy combinations. Worse, the effects of CIPN can last for years. The symptoms include tingling or numbness in the extremities, as well as shooting or burning pain sensations.

Salvemini and her research team studied paclitaxel, a common taxane, and found that the pain pathway is dependent on activation of sphingosine 1-phosphate receptor subtype 1 (S1PR1) in the central nervous system. The research team then looked for a way to inhibit this molecule and found FTY720, the MS drug that is already approved by the FDA. When tested, FTY720 weakened the neuro inflammatory process which blocked and reversed the pain associated with taxane treatment.

Salvemini commented on the results of her team’s research. “We have identified a critical pathway by which CIPN develops and continues that can be targeted with a drug that is already FDA approved. This does not happen often," said Salvemini. "We need to capitalize on these findings and explore use of these agents in cancer pain patients to improve quality of life and potentially maximize anticancer efficacy as soon as possible."

The research was published recently in the Journal of Biological Chemistry.