"Chemo fog" May Have It's Roots in Pre-Cancer Immune Function

[Cort]

Fascinating study suggests that the chemo fog that occurs in cancer patients after treatment has its roots in immune issues that existed prior to cancer. The people who were to experience chemo-fog later didn't have cognitive problems prior to cancer but they did have high levels of TNF receptor type two. Tumor necrosis factor is a pro-inflammatory cytokine produced largely by macrophages that plays a major role in the innate immune response.

It's been implicated in a variety of diseases including Alzheimer's disease, cancer, depression including inflammatory bowel disease (IBD) and is sometimes high in ME/CFS. The study suggests that somehow higher levels of TNF-a interact with chemotherapy to produce chemo-fog.

Finding out what sets up people for problems like cognitive issues is after the exposure to some stressor is, of course, my importante in ME/CFS. This study suggests already increased levels of pro-inflammatory cytokines could do it in post-cancer fatigue.

• http://medicalxpress.com/news/2015-06-higher-stnf-rii-memory-functioning-breast.html

Pretreatment cytokine levels, specifically soluble TNF receptor type two (sTNF-RII), are associated with reduced memory performance among newly-diagnosed, post-menopausal breast cancer patients prior to receipt of surgery and/or adjuvant therapy, according to a new study published June 22 in the JNCI: Journal of the National Cancer Institute.

http://medicalxpress.com/news/2015-06-higher-stnf-rii-memory-functioning-breast.html