In the 1980s, doctors had tried to chill the head with a turban of ice during treatment to temporarily reduce the flow of blood containing chemotherapy to the scalp, but results were mixed. The new compound works by temporarily suspending cell division in the hair follicle and stopping the activity of cyclin-dependent kinase 2 or CDK2, an enzyme that controls a key step in cell division.
In this way, the chemotherapy drugs will not target the hair follicle cells. "We've blocked cell division in the hair follicle and blocked the process of cell death," said Stephen Davis, lead author of the article and a senior research investigator at Glaxo Wellcome in Research Triangle Park, N.C.
Most chemotherapy patients experience hair loss, which lasts during the entire four to six months of treatment. It usually takes about six to eight weeks for humans to begin regrowing their hair after chemotherapy, making for a long period during which they are self-conscious.
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