Hyman B. Muss, MD

Understanding the effects of chemotherapy on molecular aging.

Impact

While often curative, chemotherapy also has unwanted side effects that endure after treatment has ended, including biological aging. Dr. Muss and his research team are conducting a series of studies to understand the effects of chemotherapy on aging of the immune system and identifying strategies to prevent or attenuate these unwanted side effects and improve the quality of life of patients who have undergone this treatment.

Progress Thus Far

Dr. Muss’ team has shown that different chemotherapy regimens affect a marker of aging called p16 in both older and younger women with breast cancer and that chemotherapy rapidly and irreversibly ages their immune systems by about ten years. He has also found that p16 can be used to predict which patients receiving chemotherapy are more likely to experience side effects such as fatigue and chemotherapy-induced peripheral neuropathy. Dr. Muss is now working to find ways to slow the effects of chemotherapy-associated aging. He and his team are conducting a study to test the efficacy of strength training exercises and drugs called senolytics, which kill old or damaged cells, in slowing the effects of chemotherapy-associated aging. Dr. Muss and his team are leveraging the results from a 250-person study of p16 in healthy adults establishing baseline p16 values for a “natural aging,” non-cancer population to compare with cancer patient data.

What’s next

Dr. Muss and his team are now accruing participants to a trial that will test whether vigorous exercise and/or a naturally occurring compound called fisetin with senolytic properties can mitigate chemotherapy-induced changes in p16 and aging.