New Research into Antioxidants Marks a Milestone in Scalp Cooling Innovation 

A new research paper in the peer-reviewed journal Frontiers in Pharmacology has delivered a major milestone in scalp cooling innovation. The paper highlights a powerful new way to revolutionise and standardise efficacy, potentially transforming it into a more consistent and universally reliable method of preventing chemotherapy-induced hair loss.   

Innovation Through Partnership

Paxman currently has a research collaboration with Sheffield Hallam University’s Associate Professor, Nikolaos Georgopoulos. Building on his expertise in cell biology, Nik and his team have worked extensively to build biological evidence that supports scalp cooling as a viable way to protect hair follicles from chemotherapy.  

The strength of this partnership was recently recognised at the Medilink North of England Healthcare Business Awards, where Paxman and Sheffield Hallam won the Partnership with Academia Award.

The newly published paper authored by Khalidah Ibraheem, Adrian Smith, Andrew Collett and Nikolaos Georgopoulos is the culmination of recent research into the prevention of human hair follicle damage from chemotherapy. Within this, they examined in vitro keratinocytes and ex vivo hair follicle organ cultures treated with doxorubicin or 4-hydroxycyclophonsphamide (4HC), discovering new information on the mechanisms of chemotherapy in the process.  

Oxidative Stress and Toxic Effects on Cells Due to Chemotherapy

Chemotherapy-induced alopecia (CIA) remains one of the most distressing side effects of cancer treatment. While scalp cooling is currently the only regulatory-approved method to reduce CIA, its effectiveness varies, particularly across different chemotherapy regimens and patient profiles. That’s why advancing our scientific understanding of how cooling works (and how we can enhance its impact) is vital. 

Georgopoulos et al. reference evidence that chemotherapy drugs such as anthracyclines and alkylating agents exert their anticancer effects through the production of intracellular reactive oxygen species (ROS) – unstable molecules that cause oxidative stress and damage key cells within the follicle. It has been proven that ROS-inducing drugs frequently cause cell death in hair follicles, which suggests a link between the two. 

The research confirms that optimal cooling conditions of 18° C can prevent the generation of ROS, which would otherwise cause cell death. However, reducing the scalp temperature sufficiently so that cooling alone will prevent cell death is not always feasible in clinical settings. Factors such as scalp thickness, blood flow, or issues preventing sufficient cooling such as poor cap fit, can all cause variability in individual scalp skin temperatures.   

Therefore, it also presents an exciting case for a new combinatorial approach to prevent the oxidative stress and toxic damage to hair follicles under conditions where it may not be possible to reach the target scalp temperature of 18° C.  

A milestone for scalp cooling efficacy

The Scalp Cooling Registry, also co-authored by Nik Georgopoulos, was a study to ascertain the determinants of scalp cooling efficacy. It investigated age, gender, lifestyle habits, chemotherapy type etc. to identify any correlation with scalp cooling success, which it determined as no patient-reported head cover use.  

However, without the data or tools available to measure the scalp temperature of every single patient in its registry, the study was only able to ascertain that chemotherapy regimen was the determining factor of success. 

Now with a deeper understanding of the way chemotherapy causes hair follicle cell death, the team at Sheffield Hallam University have developed and tested a topical agent using a panel of antioxidants to counter the production of ROS. This topical formulation could be used to compensate for inadequate protection from cooling alone where conditions may not allow for it.  

This represents a huge milestone for scalp cooling efficacy. Once the topical agent becomes widely available as part of the treatment protocol for the Paxman Scalp Cooling System, results in efficacy, and therefore adoption of scalp cooling as a standard of care, should improve greatly.  

Speaking about this exciting research, CEO Richard Paxman said:

“Our vision has always been to make our chemotherapy side effect management technology available to everyone, continually improving efficacy in the process. Our partnership with Sheffield Hallam University has been central to achieving this vision. Led by Professor Georgopoulos and the team at SHU’s Biomolecular Sciences Research Centre, this collaboration has consistently delivered impactful findings which we hope will ultimately encourage further adoption worldwide. We are incredibly grateful for the team’s dedication and insight, and we are already working together on the next steps to translate this work into real-world solutions.”