Making hypersensitivity to cold a thing of the past in colorectal cancer treatment
Monday, April 4, 2011 - 13:31
in Health & Medicine
Putting gloves on before opening the fridge. Avoiding the refrigerated section in supermarkets. This is routine for almost all colorectal cancer patients receiving chemotherapy with oxaliplatin, which causes hypersensitivity to cold. This side effect could soon be avoided thanks to a study coordinated by Emmanuel Bourinet, senior researcher at the CNRS Institute of Functional Genomics (CNRS/ Inserm/ University of Montpellier, France). A molecule already marketed in France for the treatment of angina has been shown to restore the excitation thresholds of cold-sensitive neurons to normal levels. Results were published in the EMBO Molecular Medicine journal on 23 March.