Measurements, mechanisms and potential therapy for preventing chemotherapy-induced cognitive impairment
Jie Yin, Yuan-Yuan Han, Dong-Dong Shi
Cognitive impairment following chemotherapy, also called chemobrain, is reducing the life quality
of millions of cancer patients. It is urgent to discover therapeutic methods against chemobrain. In
fact, neither measurements nor mechanisms are yet to be defined. To discover efficient treatment on
chemobrain, in this review, we firstly focus on applications of objective and accurate methods to study
the measurement of chemobrain, such as Functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) and positron
emission tomography (PET). Furthermore, we highlight the potential mechanism of chemobrain
including neuroinflammation, cell apoptosis and synaptic degeneration. Chemotherapy can induce
neuroinflammation and cell apoptosis in brain. Synaptic plasticity also decreased in chemo-agent treated
mice. Based on other cognitive impairment diseased, we also engaged in looking for effective treatment
on cognitive impairment after chemotherapy in cancer patients. Synaptic repair, stem cell transplantation,
Chinese medicine and psychological rehabilitation are all powerful candidates for treating chemobrain.
