Researchers at Roswell Park Cancer Institute (RPCI), in collaboration with investigators from the cooperative group SWOG, have found that use of multivitamins prior to diagnosis may reduce the risk of neuropathy in breast cancer patients treated with the class of drugs known as taxanes.

The team presented their findings at the American Association for Cancer Research (AACR) Annual Meeting 2016.

Gary Zirpoli, PhD, a Postdoctoral Fellow with Roswell Park’s Department of Cancer Prevention and Control, is the first author and Christine Ambrosone, PhD, Chair of that department and Senior Vice President for Population Sciences, is the senior author of “Supplement use and chemotherapy-induced peripheral neuropathy in breast cancer patients treated on a SWOG study SO221”.

Although cancer patients frequently experience nerve damage to the peripheral nervous system, known as chemotherapy-induced peripheral neuropathy (CIPN), as a consequence of treatment with the taxane paclitaxel, relatively little is known about strategies to prevent or treat this often-debilitating condition.

“Because development of chemotherapy-induced neuropathy is difficult to predict and symptoms can remain long after treatment has concluded, identifying preventive measures has the potential to greatly enhance quality of life for a substantial number of breast cancer survivors,” says Dr. Zirpoli.

Source: AACR 2016