Grant: Cancer Research Society Doctoral Research Awards - ICR-ISI

Chemotherapy is the first line of treatment for many cancers. The most prevalent cancers in Canada are among those commonly treated with 5fluorouracil (5FU)-based chemotherapy regimens, including breast, colorectal, gastric, esophageal, liver and cervical cancers. 5FU is also used to treat early-onset breast cancer and melanoma that commonly affect young individuals. Regardless of cancer type, patients and survivors treated with 5FU, as a single agent or in combination, experience long-lasting cognitive impairment termed ‘chemobrain’, which significantly limits their quality of life beyond diagnosis and treatment. Hence, studying therapy that treats multiple cancer types strengthens the generalizability of our findings elucidating the mechanism of chemobrain.