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February 28-March 01, 2019 | Paris, France
Palliative Care, Obstetrics and Gynecology
Stroke and Clinical Trials
International Conference on
Joint Event on
International Conference on
&
Journal of Research and Reports in Gynecology and Obstetrics | Volume: 3
Blood based assay to predict delayed chemotherapy induced nausea
Margaretha Wallon
Lankenau Institute for Medical Research, USA
D
elayednauseaisahighlyfearedsideeffectofchemotherapy.
Nausea can negatively affect nutritional habits, ability to
work, motivation to follow recommended treatment regimens,
and increase medical cost. Even with modern interventions
to prevent, manage and treat nausea, some patients will still
experience moderate to severe delayed nausea. Thus, there
remains a need for risk assessment tools to avert the distress
associatedwith symptoms in an effort to improve thewell-being
and quality of life of patients and their families. Chemotherapy-
induced free radicals induce release of neurotransmitters that
are known triggers of nausea. Therefore, we hypothesized that
individual ability to scavenge free radicals could be used as
indicator for nausea predictions.
Our focus was on glutathione, a critical component in the
defence against free radicals. Blood from consented patients,
drawn prior to treatment with platinum-based chemotherapy,
wasmixedwith the assay reagent Hydroxyethyl disulfide (HEDS)
that is processed through the glutathione recycling pathways
into mercaptoethanol and secreted by the cells. Produced
mercaptoethanol is assayed by spectrophotometry. Obtained
concentrations of mercaptoethanol were normalized to total
red cell counts. The test result was used to predict risk of
moderate-to-severe nausea. Predictions were then compared
to self-reported outcomes using a validated questionnaire and
notes in medical records to ascertain level of delayed nausea.
Using the described approach to predict nausea, we were able
to correctly classify 89.1% of the patients as either experiencing
moderate/severe nausea or no/mild nausea.
A second evaluation of our prospective study confirmed the
preliminary, previously published, results that a reduced
ability to recycle glutathione (GSH) in the blood may offer an
objective indicator of the development of delayed nausea that
might better guide clinicians in their efforts to provide optimal
patient-oriented care.
Speaker Biography
Margaretha Wallon has her expertise in biomarker research. She completed her Ph.D.
from University of Lund, Sweden in 1990. She is spearheading the development of
prognostic and predictive biomarkers for triple-negative breast cancers. She is also
passionate about improving the quality-of-life for cancer patients as they are going
through their life saving treatments. Her work has resulted in the first blood-based
assay to predict delayed nausea prior to initiating treatment. Her lab is currently
working on converting this assay to a high throughput format that will allow transfer of
this test into clinical laboratories.
e:
WallonM@MLHS.orgMargaretha Wallon
, Res Rep Gynaecol Obstet, Volume 3
DOI: 10.4066/2591-7366-C1-002