A new mouse study, published Thursday (Sept. 3) in the journal Science, suggests that psilocybin, the psychedelic compound in "magic mushrooms," may help prevent this painful and sometimes permanent side effect of chemotherapy, known as chemotherapy-induced peripheral neuropathy (CIPN).
CIPN affects roughly one-third to one-half of people receiving certain chemotherapies, said Dr. Thomas Strouse, a professor of clinical psychiatry and a neuropathy researcher at UCLA who was not involved in the study. In severe cases, the neuropathy can force doctors to reduce or stop chemotherapy. It can also contribute to mobility problems, which raise the risk of falls and fractures.
Initially, the researchers weren't looking for a neuropathy treatment, said study co-author Dr. Moran Amit, a cancer surgeon and researcher at The University of Texas MD Anderson Cancer Center. His team was investigating whether compounds that promote neuroplasticity — the nervous system's ability to change and adapt — might protect nerves and improve existing cancer treatments.
In the new study, protection against CIPN emerged as an unexpected effect of the drug.
The team then ran experiments using human sensory neurons and peripheral nerves that had been removed during surgery. These analyses pointed to a possible explanation: a process called mitochondrial trafficking.
Amit compared those microtubules to a railroad system: Chemotherapy can damage both the mitochondria themselves and the tracks they travel along.
The effect depended on the serotonin receptor 5-HT2A, which is responsible for many of psilocybin's psychedelic effects as well. Intriguingly, a compound called TBG — designed to activate 5-HT2A without causing hallucinations — also protected mice from neuropathy.
Chemotherapy can have a wide range of side effects, including nerve damage. (Image credit: Fly View Productions via Getty Images)
A long way from patients
Strouse noted that mitochondrial damage in CIPN isn't a new idea. "What's novel is looking at psilocybin as a protectant," he said.
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"The main thing is that it was never tested for this indication specifically in a systematic way in humans," Amit said. His team is now preparing a clinical trial at MD Anderson to test the approach. The research is part of MD Anderson's Cancer Neuroscience Program, a multidisciplinary effort that studies interactions between cancer and the nervous system, with an emphasis on improving patients' quality of life.
This article is for informational purposes only and is not meant to offer medical advice.
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