New hopes for mucositis induced by cancer treatment

Oral and intestinal mucositis are debilitating inflammatory diseases observed in cancer patients undergoing chemo-radiotherapy. There are currently no preventative strategies for this debilitating condition. In a recent study published in the prestigious Cell Death and Disease (a Nature portfolio journal) the researchers show that a formulation consisting of high molecular weight hyaluronic acid is capable of reducing or completely preventing both oral and intestinal mucositis induced by chemotherapeutic drugs. This work, together with another recent study which also features the participation of STEMM Research, sets the standards for in vivo and in vitro models of mucosal injury in cancer patients and demonstrates that prevention of mucositis is indeed possible.