\u201cThis unmet need of chemotherapy-induced alopecia appealed to me because it is adjacent to the typical needs in medicine such as better treatments and earlier, more accurate diagnostics for cancer,\u201d Smith said. \u201cThis is a need on the personal side of cancer care that, as an engineer, I didn\u2019t fully recognize until I began interviewing cancer physicians and former cancer patients about it. Once I understood, it became clear to me that better solutions are very important to many cancer patients\u2019 quality of life.\u201d <\/p>\n
This rigorous process of specifying the need, identifying possible solutions, developing an initial prototype, and refining and testing it led to the development of a gel described in a new paper appearing in Biomaterials Advances<\/a>. <\/p>\n The gel is a hydrogel, which absorbs a lot of water and provides long-lasting delivery of drugs to the patient\u2019s scalp. The hydrogel is designed to be applied to the patient\u2019s scalp before the start of chemotherapy and left on their head as long as the chemotherapy drugs are in their system \u2014 or until they are ready to easily wash it off.<\/p>\n During chemotherapy treatment, chemotherapeutic drugs circulate throughout the body. When these drugs reach the blood vessels surrounding the hair follicles on the scalp, they kill or damage the follicles, which releases the hair from the shaft and causes it to fall out. The gel, containing the drugs lidocaine and adrenalone, prevents most of the chemotherapy drugs from reaching the hair follicle by restricting the blood flow to the scalp. Dramatic reduction in drugs reaching the follicle will help protect the hair and prevent it from falling out.<\/p>\n To support practical use of this \u201cshampoo,\u201d the gel is designed to be temperature responsive. For example, at body temperatures the gel is thicker and clings to the patient\u2019s hair and scalp surface. When the gel is exposed to slightly cooler temperatures, the gel becomes thinner and more like a liquid that can be easily washed away. <\/p>\n Smith and his team hope to obtain federal and\/or venture funding to move this research forward into clinical trials and, eventually, to human patients.<\/p>\n \u201cThe research has the potential to help many people,\u201d Smith said. \u201cAll the individual components are well-established, safe materials, but we can\u2019t move forward with follow-up studies and clinical trials on humans without the support of substantial funding.\u201d<\/p>\n ###<\/p>\n Michigan State University has been advancing the common good with uncommon will for 170 years. One of the world\u2019s leading public research universities, MSU pushes the boundaries of discovery to make a better, safer, healthier world for all while providing life-changing opportunities to a diverse and inclusive academic community through more than 400 programs of study in 17 degree-granting colleges.<\/p>\n For generations, Spartans have been changing the world through research. Federal funding helps power many of the discoveries that improve lives and keep America at the forefront of innovation and competitiveness. From lifesaving cancer treatments to solutions that advance technology, agriculture, energy and more, MSU researchers work every day to shape a better future for the people of Michigan and beyond. Learn more about MSU\u2019s research impact<\/a> powered by partnership with the federal government. <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Cancer fighters know that losing their hair is often part of the battle, but Michigan State University researchers…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":39424,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[78],"tags":[4144,30196,18,16801,135,19,17],"class_list":{"0":"post-39423","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-health","8":"tag-chemotherapy","9":"tag-chemotherapy-induced-alopecia","10":"tag-eire","11":"tag-hair-loss","12":"tag-health","13":"tag-ie","14":"tag-ireland"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/39423","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=39423"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/39423\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/39424"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=39423"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=39423"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=39423"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}The gel restricts the blood flow to the scalp and protects the patient’s hair from falling out.<\/p>\n