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The use of vitamin E in preventing taxane-induced peripheral neuropathy

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Abstract

Purpose

Chemotherapy-induced peripheral neuropathy (CIPN) is a dose-limiting side effect of chemotherapy. Several trials have evaluated the protective effect of vitamin E in preventing CIPN with controversial results. This study aims to outline the role of vitamin E in preventing CIPN.

Methods

A prospective phase II, open-label randomized controlled study was conducted in patients receiving taxane-based chemotherapy in Ain Shams University Hospitals, using vitamin E at a dose of 400 mg twice daily. The primary endpoint was the incidence of grade ≥ 2 sensory neuropathy according to CTCAE v 5.0 in each treatment arm. Secondary endpoints include time to onset and the duration of grade ≥ 2 sensory neuropathy.

Results

A total of 140 patients were randomized between the control and vitamin E arms. There was no difference in the incidence of grade ≥ 2 sensory neuropathy between the two arms (25.7% in each arm; P = 1.0), as well as the time to onset of neuropathy (P = 0.24). However, there was a statistically significant difference between the 2 arms as regards the duration of neuropathy. The median duration was 12.5 vs. 5 weeks in the control and vitamin E arms respectively (P = 0.01).

Conclusion

Our study did not demonstrate a protective role of vitamin E in decreasing the incidence of CIPN in patients receiving taxane-based chemotherapy. However, the recovery from CIPN was much better as compared to the control arm, which may indicate a role for vitamin E in decreasing the duration and severity of CIPN.

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Funding

No funding was received for conducting this study.

Author information

Authors and Affiliations

  1. Clinical Oncology Department, Faculty of Medicine, Ain Shams University, Cairo, Egypt

    Muhammad Ali Heiba, Soheir Sayed Ismail, Mohamed Sabry, Walid Abd Elmoniem Bayoumy & Khaled Abdel-Aziz Kamal

Authors
  1. Muhammad Ali Heiba
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  2. Soheir Sayed Ismail
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  3. Mohamed Sabry
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  4. Walid Abd Elmoniem Bayoumy
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  5. Khaled Abdel-Aziz Kamal
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Contributions

All authors contributed to the idea and the study design. Data collection was done by Dr. MAH and was supervised by Dr. KA-AK. Data analysis was done by Dr. MAH and Dr. KA-AK, while all authors contributed equally to data interpretation. Manuscript drafting was done by Dr. MAH and Dr. KA-AK, while Dr. WA-MB, Dr. MSE-K, and Dr. SSI have revised the manuscript. All authors accepted the final form of the manuscript.

Corresponding author

Correspondence to Muhammad Ali Heiba.

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Conflict of interest

All authors declare no conflict of interest.

Ethical consideration

The study protocol was revised and approved by the research ethics committee of the Faculty of Medicine, Ain Shams University (FMASU REC) operating under Federal Assurance number FWA 000017585 and it was conducted according to the 1964 Declaration of Helsinki and its later amendments.

Data transparency

The datasets generated and/or analyzed during the current study are available from the corresponding author on reasonable request.

Code availability

Not applicable.

Consent for participation

Informed consent was obtained from all individual participants included in the study.

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Not applicable.

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Heiba, M.A., Ismail, S.S., Sabry, M. et al. The use of vitamin E in preventing taxane-induced peripheral neuropathy. Cancer Chemother Pharmacol 88, 931–939 (2021). https://doi.org/10.1007/s00280-021-04347-6

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s00280-021-04347-6

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