Trending With Impact: Side Effects of Cancer Treatments on Learning, Memory, Genes

Posted by

Oncotarget

Oncotarget published this trending research paper on January 24, 2022 in Volume 13, entitled, "Common cancer treatments targeting DNA double strand breaks affect long-term memory and relate to immediate early gene expression in a sex-dependent manner" by researchers from the Department of Behavioral Neuroscience, Oregon Health and Science University, Portland, OR; Department of Neurology, Oregon Health and Science University, Portland, OR; Jungers Center for Neurosciences Research, Oregon Health and Science University; and OHSU Parkinson Center, Portland, OR; Departments of Psychiatry and Radiation Medicine, Division of Neuroscience, ONPRC, Oregon Health and Science University, Portland, OR. DOI - https://doi.org/10.18632/oncotarget.28180 Correspondence to - Jacob Raber - raberj@ohsu.edu Abstract: DNA double strand breaks (DSBs) have been highly studied in the context of cancers, as DSBs can lead to apoptosis or tumorigenesis. Several pharmaceuticals are widely used to target DSBs during cancer therapy. Amifostine (WR-2721) and etoposide are two commonly used drugs: amifostine reduces DSBs, whereas etoposide increases DSBs. Recently, a novel role for DSBs in immediate early gene expression, learning, and memory has been suggested. Neither amifostine nor etoposide have been assessed for their effects on learning and memory without confounding factors. Moreover, sex-dependent effects of these drugs have not been reported. We administered amifostine or etoposide to 3–4-month-old male and female C57Bl/6J mice before or after training in fear conditioning and assessed learning, memory, and immediate early genes. We observed sex-dependent baseline and drug-induced differences, with females expressing higher cFos and FosB levels than males. These were affected by both amifostine and etoposide. Post-training injections of amifostine affected long-term contextual fear memory; etoposide affected contextual and cued fear memory. These data support the hypothesis that DSBs contribute to learning and memory, and that these could play a part in cognitive side effects during common treatment regimens. The sex-dependent effects also highlight an important factor when considering treatment plans. Sign up for free Altmetric alerts about this article - https://oncotarget.altmetric.com/details/email_updates?id=10.18632%2Foncotarget.28180 Keywords - amifostine, etoposide, double strand breaks, memory, sex About Oncotarget Oncotarget is a peer-reviewed, open access biomedical journal covering research on all aspects of oncology. To learn more about Oncotarget, please visit https://www.oncotarget.com or connect with us: SoundCloud - https://soundcloud.com/oncotarget Facebook - https://www.facebook.com/Oncotarget/ Twitter - https://twitter.com/oncotarget Instagram - https://www.instagram.com/oncotargetjrnl/ YouTube - https://www.youtube.com/OncotargetYouTube LinkedIn - https://www.linkedin.com/company/oncotarget Pinterest - https://www.pinterest.com/oncotarget/ Reddit - https://www.reddit.com/user/Oncotarget/ Oncotarget is published by Impact Journals, LLC: https://www.ImpactJournals.com Media Contact MEDIA@IMPACTJOURNALS.COM 18009220957