Researchers are studying the treatment of chronic pain in childhood cancer survivors
Treatments that could help relieve the chronic pain of thousands of childhood cancer survivors are being explored by scientists and researchers in Britain.
About eight in ten children survive their cancer for ten years or more, but more than half of them report delayed and persistent pain into adulthood.
Dr. Richard Hulse, a sensory neurophysiologist at Nottingham Trent University’s science and technology school, is investigating the pathways through which chemotherapy causes patients to experience persistent pain by damaging nerve cells, as part of a two-year study funded by the Medical Research Foundation .
Hulse said cancer treatments such as chemotherapy can damage nerve cells that detect pain early in life, and can change the way pain is experienced as the patient matures.
He said that although cancer treatment had developed and significantly improved a person’s life expectancy after the disease, “persistent pain after treatment is a significant problem in children growing into adulthood and can seriously affect their quality of life, but we still know little about the biological pathways and mechanisms that drive this”.
In healthy people, the body’s natural immune system helps preserve the mitochondria of nociceptor cells, which are nerve cell endings that initiate the sensation of pain.
Hulse said chemotherapy could prevent this. “We want to investigate how the immune system and these nerve cells interact. Mitochondria are important because they provide cells with energy,” he said.
The NTU team said it wanted to investigate whether transferring mitochondria from healthy cells to nerve cells damaged by chemotherapy could prevent the nerves from causing pain.
Hulse added: “If functional, healthy mitochondria are transferred, this can promote nerve health. We believe this may provide a unique route to protect nerves from pain and provide a way to identify potential new treatments.”
Survey figures from Macmillan Cancer Support show that one in three people with cancer – the equivalent of 1 million people in the UK – have said it is harder now than at “any other time they can remember”, and that one in five people receiving cancer treatment in Britain suffer serious physical or emotional problems, yet do not get the support they need.
Steven McIntosh, Macmillan’s chief partnerships officer, said the cancer care system was “unfair and broken”.
“Every day we hear about the devastating impact cancer has on all areas of people’s lives, and despite the best efforts of healthcare professionals, cancer care is crumbling under enormous pressure. It is categorically unacceptable that for many people the cancer experience is worse depending on who you are and where you live,” he said.
“The cancer care system is unfair and broken, but better is possible. In next week’s Budget, we urgently need to see the Chancellor provide sufficient funding to successfully rebuild our NHS and improve the support people with cancer receive in all areas of their lives, now and in the future.
“We are encouraged by the Government starting a public conversation about the future of the NHS; it is crucial that the ten-year health plan is based on people with experience of cancer. The Government can deliver real change through the Budget to both tackle the immediate crisis in cancer care and lay the foundation for future improvements.”