Chemoprevention of doxorubicin-induced alopecia in mice by dietary administration of l-cystine and vitamin B6

Abstract

Chemotherapy-induced hair loss is one of the most serious and feared adverse effects of cancer therapy. Almost all traditional chemotherapeutic agents induce a more or less severe alopecia. At present, there is no effective treatment capable of preventing this damage. Several different experimental approaches, using various animal models, have been investigated over the last years, with promising results. Sulphur-containing amino acids (cystine, cysteine) are essential components for the health of normal hair. L-Cystine is used in the treatment of various forms of alopecia. Vitamin B6 plays an important role in the development and maintenance of the skin and it is useful in reducing hair loss. In the present study, we demonstrated that the combined oral administration at high dosages of L-cystine (1,600 or 800 mg/kg body weight/day) and vitamin B6 (160 or 80 mg/kg body weight/day) is an effective chemopreventive treatment against alopecia induced by doxorubicin treatment (1.1 mg/kg body weight intravenously) in C57BL/6 mice.

Effects of vitamin B6 metabolism on oncogenesis, tumor progression and therapeutic responses

“…71 Later on, the interest on the potential antineoplastic effects provided by vitamin B6 antagonists dropped and most of the preclinical studies on vitamin B6 aimed at testing its potential cytoprotective effects, [72][73][74][75] and hence whether it might be employed to limit the adverse effects of radio-and chemotherapy. 76,77 In 2012, our group has demonstrated that PN synergizes with a large panel of chemotherapeutics (including the DNA-damaging agent cisplatin) as well as several chemotherapy-unrelated stress conditions (for example, hyperthermia, hypoxia, nutrient deprivation, irradiation, inhibition of the respiratory chain and endoplasmic reticulum stress) in the killing of a large panel of cancer cells in vitro. 78 In addition, we have shown that the intratumoral injection of PN exacerbates the antineoplastic effects of cisplatin in vivo, in both syngenic, immunocompetent and xenogenic, immunodeficient mouse models of non-small cell lung carcinoma (NSCLC).…”

A medicinal and edible formula YH0618 ameliorates the toxicity induced by Doxorubicin via regulating the expression of Bax/Bcl-2 and FOXO4

“…A recent study revealed that the removal of chemotherapy-induced senescent cells contributed to reducing chemotoxicity 28. DOX could induce an upregulation of FOXO4 in senescent cells and a polypeptide FOXO4-DRI potently and selectively lowered the viability of doxorubicin-induced senescence versus control IMR90 29. FOXO4 is one member of the subfamily of mammalian FOXO forkhead transcription factors that are implicated to regulate a variety of processes, such as cellular proliferation, DNA repair oxidative stress and apoptosis 30, 31.…”

Parathyroid hormone linked to a collagen binding domain promotes hair growth in a mouse model of chemotherapy-induced alopecia in a dose-dependent manner

“…Most chemotherapeutic agents cause alopecia, which can be severe [2]. More than half of all people diagnosed with cancer receive chemotherapy, and approximately 65% of these develop chemotherapy-induced alopecia [3].…”