Long-term musculoskeletal consequences of chemotherapy in pediatric mice

Thanks to recent progress in cancer research, most children treated for cancer survive into adulthood. Nevertheless, the long-term consequences of anticancer agents are understudied, especially in the pediatric population. We and others have shown that routinely administered chemotherapeutics drive musculoskeletal alterations, which contribute to increased treatment-related toxicity and long-term morbidity. Yet, the nature and scope of these enduring musculoskeletal defects following anticancer treatments and whether they can potentially impact growth and quality of life in young individuals remain to be elucidated. Here, we aimed at investigating the persistent musculoskeletal consequences of chemotherapy in young (pediatric) mice. Four-week-old male mice were administered a combination of 5-FU, leucovorin, irinotecan (a.k.a., Folfiri) or the vehicle for up to 5 weeks. At time of sacrifice, skeletal muscle, bones, and other tissues were collected, processed, and stored for further analyses. In another set of experiments, chemotherapy-treated mice were monitored for up to 4 weeks after cessation of treatment. Overall, the growth rate was significantly slower in the chemotherapy-treated animals, resulting in diminished lean and fat mass, as well as significantly smaller skeletal muscles. Interestingly, 4 weeks after cessation of the treatment, the animals exposed to chemotherapy showed persistent musculoskeletal defects, including muscle innervation deficits and abnormal mitochondrial homeostasis. Altogether, our data supports that anticancer treatments may lead to long-lasting musculoskeletal complications in actively growing pediatric mice and support the need for further studies to determine the mechanisms responsible for these complications, so that new therapies to prevent or diminish chemotherapy-related toxicities can be identified.