Nasal administration of mesenchymal stem cells restores cisplatin-induced cognitive impairment and brain damage in mice

The cover for issue 85 of Oncotarget features Figure 3, "Effect of cisplatin and MSC on brain functional connectivity," by Chiu, et al.

Mice were treated with two cycles of cisplatin followed by nasal administration of MSC. Nasal MSC treatment fully reversed these cognitive deficits in males and females. Nasal administration of MSC did not interfere with the peripheral anti-tumor effect of cisplatin. Nasal administration of MSC may represent a powerful, non-invasive, and safe regenerative treatment for resolution of chemobrain.

Dr. Cobi J. Heijnen from the Neuroimmunology Laboratory, Department of Symptom Research, at the University of Texas MD Anderson Cancer Center, in Houston, TX 77030, USA said, "However, chemotherapy is associated with many negative side effects, including fatigue, pain, numbness and tingling in hands and feet, and cognitive impairments."

"However, chemotherapy is associated with many negative side effects, including fatigue, pain, numbness and tingling in hands and feet, and cognitive impairments."

- Dr. Cobi J. Heijnen, the Neuroimmunology Laboratory, Department of Symptom Research, at the University of Texas MD Anderson Cancer Center

Figure 3: Effect of cisplatin and MSC on brain functional connectivity. After completion of behavioral analysis, rsfMRI followed by connectome analysis was performed as described in the methods section. Comparing the connectome of control (A) and cisplatin-treated mice reveals that cisplatin treatment results in significantly lower connectome organization (B) which appears more "noisy" than the cisplatin + MSC connectome (C).

Chemotherapy-induced cognitive impairment, commonly known as chemobrain, involves impairment in working memory, attention, processing speed, concentration, and executive function. Cognitive impairments also frequently develop as a result of cisplatin treatment.

Cisplatin being the most widely used chemotherapeutic, is part of the standard treatment for numerous malignancies including head and neck, testicular, ovarian, and non-small cell lung cancer. The researchers demonstrated that cisplatin treatment results in long lasting cognitive dysfunction in association with impaired neurogenesis, white matter damage and a loss of neuronal dendritic spines and arborizations. In addition, they investigated whether nasal MSC administration after completion of cisplatin treatment interfered with tumor recurrence or growth.

The Cobi J. Heijnen research team concluded, "taken together, our results indicate that nasal administration of MSC is an effective treatment for chemobrain as a result of cisplatin treatment."

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DOI - https://doi.org/10.18632/oncotarget.26272

Full text - https://www.oncotarget.com/article/26272/text/

Correspondence to - Cobi J. Heijnen - cjheijnen@mdanderson.org

Keywords - chemobrain, mesenchymal stem cells, nasal administration, mitochondrial function, cisplatin

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