Effects of Chemotherapy on Normal Blood Cells

 Effects of Chemotherapy on Normal Blood Cells 

An article written by Emily Mitchell discusses the long-term effects of chemotherapy on normal blood cells. Researchers sequenced the genomes of blood cells from 23 individuals aged 3 to 80 who had previously been treated with chemotherapy. The results revealed significant long-term biological consequences of cytotoxic agents. 

Most participants had received a combination of drugs and were exposed to 21 different chemotherapy agents across the major drug classes. The study found that different chemotherapy drugs cause distinct types of DNA damage, each leaving its own mutational signature. The researchers also emphasized that these long-term genetic changes may increase the risk of secondary cancers. This research is important because it may help scientists develop safer chemotherapy treatments that reduce DNA damage in healthy cells while still effectively targeting cancer.

Mitchell, E., Pham, M. H., Clay, A., Sanghvi, R., Williams, N., Pietsch, S., Hsu, J. I., Jung, H., Vedi, A., Moody, S., Wang, J., Leonganmornlert, D., Spencer Chapman, M., Dunstone, E., Santarsieri, A., Cagan, A., Machado, H. E., Baxter, E. J., Follows, G., & Hodson, D. J. (2025). The long-term effects of chemotherapy on normal blood cells. Nature Genetics. https://doi.org/10.1038/s41588-025-02234-x

Bai, B., Ma, Y., Liu, D., Zhang, Y., Zhang, W., Shi, R., & Zhou, Q. (2024). DNA damage caused by chemotherapy has duality, and traditional Chinese medicine may be a better choice to reduce its toxicity. Frontiers in Pharmacology, 15. https://doi.org/10.3389/fphar.2024.1483160