Patients Treated with Antitumor Drugs Displaying Neurological Deficits Are Characterized by a Low Circulating Level of Nerve Growth Factor
2000
The
aim of our study was to explore whether nerve growth factor (NGF) plays
any role in the development of peripheral neuropathy induced by
anticancer treatment. We measured the circulating NGF levels in 23
cancer patients before and after chemotherapy. We evaluated whether the
development of peripheral neurotoxicity was associated with changes in
basal NGF concentrations in patients studied with a comprehensive
neurological and neurophysiological examination. The results of these
studies showed that the circulating levels of NGF, which are about 20
pg/ml in plasma of controls, decrease during chemotherapy and in some
cases completely disappeared after prolonged treatment with antitumor
agents. The decrease in NGF levels seems to be correlated with the
severity of neurotoxicity. These results clearly suggest that NGF might become a useful agent to
prevent neuropathies induced by antineoplastic drugs and restore
peripheral nerve dysfunction induced by these pharmacological
compounds.
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