Doxorubicin is a common chemo drug used for a variety of cancers, including breast. It binds to DNA components and helps kill cancer cells, but it also impacts healthy cells in the process. That can lead to uncomfortable and sometimes dangerous side effects, including fever or chills, upset stomach, mouth sores, breathing problems, irregular heartbeat, and low blood counts. A new study may have found a way to lessen the dosage and lower the risk of side effects, without compromising the drug’s effectiveness.

Research recently published in the journal Cancers investigated how magnetic exposure could help doxorubicin better target cancer cells and not healthy ones. Using human breast cancer cells and healthy muscle cells, researchers at the National University of Singapore tested the impacts of using 10 minutes of localized magnetic pulses along with doxorubicin. They found that this helped increase the drug’s uptake into cancer cells and reduced the drug concentration needed for similar amounts of cell death. At the same time, healthy cells were spared.

The findings provide hope that there may be a targeted treatment option that limits side effects, lowers the chemo drug dose, and remains effective.

Joline Lim, research team member from the National University Cancer Institute, says, “The majority of women who undergo chemotherapy experience side effects from treatment, and in some cases, doses of chemotherapy need to be reduced, or in severe cases, stopped prematurely. Moreover, prolonged exposure to high-dose chemotherapy can also lead to drug resistance. This targeted approach represents an excellent opportunity to potentially improve treatment outcomes while preserving patients’ quality of life.”

The study showed that the drug’s uptake into breast cancer cells was helped along by the overexpression of the calcium ion channel transient receptor potential canonical 1 (TRPC1). As more doxorubicin got into the cancer cells, cell death increased. However, it didn’t increase death in healthy cells.

Reducing or blocking TRPC1 expression, on the other hand, did not have the same impact, which indicates its potential as a treatment pathway.

Viresh Krishnan Sukumar, the study’s first author and PhD candidate at National University of Singapore Centre for Cancer Research, says, “Importantly, when we increased the amount of TRPC1, we observed an increase in DOX uptake — this means that TRPC1 can be used as a viable therapeutic target for aggressive cancers.”

The next step would be trying out this treatment method in clinical trials. You can read the whole study here.