Effects of a Glucoside- and Rutinoside-rich Material in Chemotherapy-induced Peripheral Neuropathy and Related Symptoms

Chemotherapy-induced peripheral neuropathy (CIPN is common among cancer patients during or after chemotherapy, and the currently available drugs cannot effectively manage the symptoms. Besides, CIPN causes fatigue, anxiety, and depression. CIPN is featured by the interference of interleukin (IL) pathways, among which escalation of IL-17 is predominant, suggesting that IL-17 may be manipulated to reduce the inflammation or the immunological disturbance. Cyanidin, a type of glucosides, has been proved to behave like an IL-17 inhibitor. We have identified a food material that contains large amounts of glucosides and rutinosides - mulberry juice. The current proposal aims to explore the effect of this IL-17 inhibitor-rich material in CIPN and related symptoms. We plan to divide the potential participants into severe pain and mild pain group to conduct two human studies. A single-blinded randomized controlled design is adopted to compare the effects of this crude material between the experimental group and the control group in (1) pain and CIPN of the severe pain participants and (2) fatigue, anxiety, and depression in the mild pain participants. IL and other immune markers will be tested as evidence of improvement of inflammation status. We expect a decrement in pain, CIPN, fatigue, anxiety, and depression severity with the intake of this IL-17 inhibitor-rich material among cancer patients undergoing chemotherapy.