Project description
Mitigating chemotherapy’s impact on peripheral nerves
Chemotherapy-induced peripheral neuropathy (CIPN) is a common side effect of certain chemotherapy drugs that can lead to damage of the protective coating or dysfunction of nerves. It typically manifests as tingling, numbness, burning sensations, or weakness in the hands and feet, although it can affect other parts of the body as well. Funded by the European Research Council, the NeuroProtect project aims to develop a painless, safe solution to counter CIPN during chemotherapy and benefit patients. This solution is based on localised microvascular compression therapy that gently restricts blood flow in hands and feet during chemotherapy. This prevents excessive drug delivery to nerves, averting myelin damage and preserving neural function.
Objective
Chemotherapy induced peripheral neuropathy (CIPN) is a debilitating neural condition that affects millions of European cancer patients every year. It is considered by patients and oncologists to be the most significant long-term impact of cancer treatment and often results in devastating consequences for patients, including an inability to work or perform the basic tasks of daily living. With chemotherapy usage set to increase by 53% by 2040, CIPN remains a clear and urgent unmet patient need. CIPN is the loss of sensation and movement in the hands and feet induced by chemotherapy treatment and is often associated with chronic neuropathic pain. Chemotherapy drugs enter the blood-stream and target all fast-growing, rapidly multiplying cells – a known characteristic of cancerous cells. However, many cells of this nature occur naturally in the body, including peripheral nerve cells. Thus, a well-known side effect of chemotherapy is the demyelination of these peripheral nerves (i.e. the destruction of the protective coating of nerve cells). Localised Microvascular Compression Therapy (LMCT) is a concept developed by the PI focused on temporarily reducing blood flow and unwanted chemotherapy drug delivery at the peripheral nerve fibres during chemotherapy treatment. By applying a consistent low-level pressure (between 40 and 60 mmHg) across the skin surface of the hands and feet, the local micro-blood vessels (which deliver chemotherapy drugs to the nerve fibres) are temporarily occluded, causing local chemotherapy delivery to be drastically reduced, thus preventing destruction of long-chain myelin and maintaining neural function (note: short-term and controlled blood flow reductions have been shown to cause no tissue damage). In this way, the NeuroProtect project will deliver a safe and pain-free solution to prevent CIPN during chemotherapy treatment.
Fields of science (EuroSciVoc)
CORDIS classifies projects with EuroSciVoc, a multilingual taxonomy of fields of science, through a semi-automatic process based on NLP techniques.
CORDIS classifies projects with EuroSciVoc, a multilingual taxonomy of fields of science, through a semi-automatic process based on NLP techniques.
- engineering and technologymaterials engineeringcoating and films
- medical and health sciencesclinical medicineoncology
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Programme(s)
- HORIZON.1.1 - European Research Council (ERC) Main Programme
Funding Scheme
HORIZON-ERC-POC - HORIZON ERC Proof of Concept GrantsHost institution
H91 Galway
Ireland