Washington University in St. Louis (WU)
Chemotherapy is a mainstay of cancer therapy. Unfortunately, while chemotherapy can profoundly impact disease free survival, it is often accompanied with devastating side effects. While many side effects subside after the completion of chemotherapy, some persist for a lifetime, substantially compromising survivor’s quality of life. Particularly insidious is chemotherapy-induced peripheral neuropathy (CIPN). Shockingly, in over 30% of patients, CIPN persists even after the cessation of chemotherapy. Paclitaxel (PTX), a common treatment for breast cancer, induces CIPN in 61-92% of patients depending on the administered dose. Chemotherapy has also been shown to trigger cellular senescence, leading to the release of a diverse array of factors collectively known as the senescence-associated secretory phenotype (SASP) that are capable of influencing neighboring cells. My works aims to understand the role of senescent cells and their SASP in CIPN.