Preventing Hair Loss From Chemotherapy

CANCER RESEARCHMany chemotherapeutic agents cause hair loss because they are aimed at rapidly dividing cells--one of the defining characteristics of cancer cells. The problem is that these drugs also kill normal dividing cells, including those of the hair follicle. On page [134][1], researchers report that they can prevent chemotherapy-induced hair loss in rats by rubbing the animals' skin with a newly developed drug that targets an enzyme which drives a key step in the cell division cycle before administering the chemotherapy. [1]: http://www.sciencemag.org/cgi/content/short/291/5501/134