Translational approaches to treatment-induced symptoms in cancer patients.
Cancer therapy makes patients sick. The therapies that are available to clinicians                 allow them to successfully control nausea, emesis and pain. However, this is not the                 case for a number of other symptoms that include fatigue, distractibility, poor                 memory, and diminished interest in previously pleasurable activities. These symptoms                 cluster during the course of cancer therapy and impair patient quality of life,                 limit therapy options and do not always resolve at the cessation of treatment. It is                 possible to describe the intensity and temporal features of symptoms and assess                 their relationship with the inflammatory response that is associated with cancer and                 cancer therapy. At the preclinical level, sophisticated animal models still need to                 be deployed to study the causal role of inflammation in specific components of                 cancer-related symptoms. Various approaches can be optimally combined in a                 translational symptom research pathway to provide a framework for assessing in a                 systematic manner the neurobehavioral toxicity of existing and newly developed                 cancer therapies. Ultimately, this knowledge will allow derivation of                 mechanism-based interventions to prevent or alleviate cancer-related symptoms.
Department of Symptom Research, Division of Internal Medicine, The University of Texas MD Anderson Cancer Center, Houston, TX 77030, USA. rdantzer@mdanderson.org
Robert
R
Dantzer
Mary W
MW
Meagher
Charles S
CS
Cleeland
D000818:Animals; D003863:Depression / Q000175:diagnosis / Q000209:etiology / Q000628:therapy*; D005221:Fatigue / Q000175:diagnosis / Q000209:etiology / Q000628:therapy*; D006801:Humans; D009369:Neoplasms / Q000150:complications / Q000523:psychology / Q000628:therapy*; D059408:Pain Management; D011788:Quality of Life; D057170:Translational Research, Biomedical