Spanish Team Identifies Gene Variant Responsible for Susceptibility to Peripheral Neuropathy

A patients' risk of developing peripheral neuropathy from paclitaxel is unknown. To date, other studies had suggested the existence of genetic variants that could explain an increased susceptibility of the patients to suffer from this disorder, although there was no clinical predictive marker for them.

Now, scientists from the Spanish National Cancer Research Centre (CNIO), in collaboration with the Karolinska Institutet in Sweden, have identified the first genetic marker associated with severe neurological toxicity. The results could be very valuable in hospital clinical practice, given that they would help to evaluate treatment risks on an individual basis, thereby improving the quality of life for patients carrying these variants.

Link to the complete report on MedicalXpress: http://bit.ly/1xtzM5R