New way to protect the ovary from the harmful effects of antitumor therapies

They discover that a natural compound, present in significant amounts in some vegetables, could protect the ovary from the harmful effects of antitumor therapies. This compound is resveratrol, an over-the-counter product that is already used for other therapeutic purposes. According to the team that made the discovery, it could preserve the fertility of cancer patients.

The study is the work of researchers from the Institute of Experimental Biology and Medicine (IBYME), attached to the National Council for Scientific and Technical Research (CONICET) in Argentina.

The first results in this line of research, obtained from studies in female mice, show not only greater protection in the ovaries and the uterus, but also that resveratrol, in some cases, could even have a synergistic effect. with the cocktail of drugs often used to treat tumors.

“The experiments we carry out are aimed at protecting female fertility against the damage caused by chemotherapy. It has been proven that women with different types of cancer undergo antitumor therapies that can age the ovary for up to 10 years,” explained Yamila Herrero, CONICET doctoral fellow and first author of the study, which was recently published in the academic journal Chemico- Biological Interactions.

In particular, the team’s studies focus on the effects of doxorubicin, one of the most widely used antitumor drugs as treatment and whose effect, according to various previous investigations, causes severe damage to the ovary. This is because cancer-stopping therapies that destroy cancer cells tend, to some extent, to destroy other healthy cells as well.

Added to this scenario is the fact that a woman’s reproductive window is shorter, and the difference in fertile capacity between a 30-year-old woman and a 40-year-old is very noticeable.

Yamila Herrero. (Photo: CTyS-UNLaM Agency / IBYME / CONICET)

“In the cases of cancer patients who want to preserve their fertility, there are currently a whole series of tools and strategies. The problem is that not all of them guarantee a future pregnancy and some are very invasive. In addition, in some cases, they imply an interference or alteration of the oncological treatment, depending on the type of tumor”, explained Herrero, a member of the Ovarian Physiopathology Studies laboratory, at IBYME.

Fernanda Parborell, director of this laboratory and also co-author of the work, points out that one of the keys to the research, in addition to its scientific relevance and the fact that it is the first time that the properties of the compound have been studied for these purposes, is that it could impact in patients who currently do not have social security, since it is a compound that is easy to access and administer.

“The advancement of antitumor therapies has meant that, in recent years, the survival rate has increased, which is enormously positive and is also the primary objective in cancer patients. From the Assisted Reproduction Law, social works, prepaid and all types of medical coverage include these treatments already available to try to guarantee the fertility of the patient, in the future. The positive thing in this work is that resveratrol, being a compound that is easily accessible and freely available, allows us to reach the entire population, whether or not they have medical coverage,” highlighted the CONICET researcher.

Although these results are promising and encouraging, more studies are required to use it in the clinic. The following steps, shares the researcher, already correspond to the link between health professionals and patient, without the participation of the scientist. “As it is the clinical part, it is the doctors who must evaluate whether to administer this natural compound to their patients or not. That is why it is key to be able to disseminate the advances and technical aspects of these tests”, stressed Parborell, PhD in Chemical Sciences.

Natural compounds together with antitumor therapies

The laboratory directed by Parborell has been working on female reproductive health for several years. The tour included the study of different molecules, in the search for protectors for the ovary when chemotherapy is administered, but which, for the most part, had not yet been approved by ANMAT. It is in this step where resveratrol could represent a huge advance, as it is available over the counter and is even taken by patients for other uses, due to its antioxidant capacity.

“The dose of resveratrol that we propose in our work is well below the dose that can be considered toxic, and, in turn, is within the over-the-counter dose,” explained Herrero. For the experimental phases, carried out in female mice, they tested the effects of resveratrol both prior to the administration of the antitumor drugs, as well as simultaneously and later.

“Based on different techniques carried out in the laboratory after the application of this drug, we were able to observe different improvements in the uterus and the ovary, both key organs for efficient female reproduction,” explained the intern, who carried out her work based on a scholarship granted by the National Agency for the Promotion of Research, Technological Development and Innovation (R+D+i Agency).

“We study all kinds of parameters that are impacted by chemotherapeutic drugs, either because they generate a much more oxidizing environment, because they affect the blood supply to the ovaries, or because they negatively affect the cells of the uterus. We also evaluated the ovarian reserve, that is, the number of oocytes that the ovary has prior to antitumor therapy, and whether or not that number decreases after applying our drug of interest,” Parborell concluded, pointing out how they were able to confirm the results. positive effects of resveratrol. (Source: Nicolás Camargo Lescano (CTyS-UNLaM Agency))