Grant: Operating Grant

Each year in Canada hundreds of thousands of people are treated for cancer with chemotherapy drugs. These treatments can slow cancer spread or even cure the disease, but they are noted for their toxic side effects. These toxic side effects are usually avoided by adjusting the dose of chemotherapy to the height and weight of each patient, and by checking to make sure that the kidneys and liver have good function to handle the drugs. Nonetheless, there are some patients who unexpectedly become extremely ill when given standard doses of chemotherapy and who may not be able to continue treatment for their cancer. We have identified a cause of unexpected severe chemotherapy toxicity, which was not previously known. Some cancer patients appear to have a normal body weight or may be overweight, but at the same time have a hidden condition: severe muscle wasting. For reasons that are not yet understood, patients with normal or high body weights and muscle wasting at the same time, do not tolerate usual doses of chemotherapy. We have made this discovery on small groups of patients at our cancer centre in Edmonton, and in the current proposal we plan to study a much larger sample of 1300 patients to confirm our findings. Through this work, we will be able to define correct doses of chemotherapy and avoid severe toxic side effects.