Psilocybin May Protect Your Nerves During Chemo

Calm Your Nerves: There’s no question that chemotherapy saves lives, but it also leaves behind lasting effects like nerve damage (called chemotherapy-induced peripheral neuropathy) for many patients. This condition causes tingling and numbness in the hands and feet and affects more than 60% of people on certain cancer drugs. Unfortunately, there’s currently no proven drug to prevent it, but an unorthodox new mouse study out of The University of Texas MD Anderson Cancer Center offers some promise.

The Study: Researchers gave mice two doses of psilocybin, the psychedelic compound found in magic mushrooms, before chemotherapy and found it protected nerve endings through six treatment cycles, with the effect lasting up to eight months. It worked by keeping mitochondria (the cells’ energy source) moving properly inside nerve fibers, without blunting chemo’s ability to fight the tumor. A non-hallucinogenic version worked too, so tripping might not be necessary to get the benefits.

The Takeaway: A compound given before chemotherapy may prevent nerve damage, one of the more common and lasting side effects of treatment.

Keep in Mind: This was done in mice, not people, so it’s still in the early stages. But the findings provide the basis for a planned Phase 2 trial in chemotherapy patients, which will test whether the effects translate to people.