Abstract
In the clinical setting,the frequency of adverse effects is directly linked to the results of treatment.However,in the case of head and neck radiotherapy for cancer,adverse effects are unavoidable and among them,oral mucositis is considered to be the most significant and debilitating acute complication associated with such radiation therapy.In patients receiving head and neck radiotherapy,the prevalence of mucositis is 85-100% and mucositis-associated pain is the main type of cancer treatment-related pain.
A mouthwash or iceball containing sodium alginate,sodium azulene sulfonate and fibrinolysin deoxyribonuclease is widely used for the prevention and treatment of mucositis.In the USA,many strategies for the prevention of oral mucositis have been evaluated,but conflicting data has made the results inconclusive.Keratinocyte Growth Factor 1 (KGF citation=1)has achieved promising results in therapy and is the only medication currently approved by the FDA,though in Japan,it is not covered by the National Health Insurance scheme.Therefore,we feel it is important to establish useful strategies for the prevention and treatment of radiotherapy-induced mucositis based on significant scientific evidence.
As oxidative stress is associated with radiation-induced mucositis,in this study,we used 60Co-γ ray-induced HO-1-N-1 cell injury to studying the characteristics of mucositis in this regard and found that two well-known antioxidants,N-AcetylL-cysteine and catechins,had preventive effects against γray-induced cytotoxicity.N-Acetyl-L-cysteine and catechins would therefore be good materials for the prevention of mucositis in patients undergoing cancer radiotherapy.
