Second place winner, 4th Annual VCU 3MT® Competition, held on October 18-19, 2018.
https://scholarscompass.vcu.edu/threemt/1/Transcription:
There
are more senior citizens alive today than at any time in the world’s
history. People are living longer, so
they have more opportunities to develop cancer, and they are also living to an
age where cancer is more common. Cancer
is a reality of life. It is projected
that there will be 20 million cancer survivors by the end of the next decade. However, with advancements in chemotherapy,
cancer is no longer a death sentence, but rather a chronic, manageable disease.
Paclitaxel
is a common chemotherapeutic used for the treatment of breast, ovarian, and
non-small cell lung cancers. Paclitaxel
has many side effects, including neuropathic pain and emotional changes. Patients who are treated with any
chemotherapeutic can experience anxiety, depression, and cognitive deficit, but
patients who receive drugs in the taxane family, such as paclitaxel, report
longer duration of emotional symptoms.
These changes in mood can last for up to five years after finishing
chemotherapy. Half a million people each
year are treated with paclitaxel, and because the survival rates of
paclitaxel-treated patients are favorable, millions of cancer survivors who
received this drug are alive today, living with depression. While double-blind clinical trials report
modest efficacy of fluoxetine for the treatment of depression in cancer
survivors treated with non-taxane chemotherapeutics, clinical trials have
repeatedly failed to find antidepressants that are efficacious in treating
paclitaxel-induced emotional changes.
Simply, there is no antidepressant that works in this population.
For my research, I
treat cancer-free mice with hospital-grade paclitaxel. The mice begin showing signs of depression,
such as lack of pleasure and increased hopelessness. Using a variety of in vitro assays, I characterize changes in the brain, so that new classes
of antidepressants can be designed to target these neurochemical changes. My pilot research with a novel antidepressant
is hopeful. Advances in antidepressants
would improve the quality of life of millions of cancer survivors, as well as
other individuals with depression.