Date Time Chemotherapy with fewer side effects may be on way A discovery by University of Queensland pain researchers may allow some future cancer patients, including children with leukaemia, to avoid their chemotherapy’s worst and most debilitating side effects. Professor Irina Vetter and Dr Hana Starobova thought “turning off” the inflammation that is one of the body’s natural reactions to the chemotherapy drug vincristine might reduce its accompanying pain and unpleasant symptoms. “We found the anti-inflammatory drug anakinra substantially reduced the awful nerve symptoms for which vincristine chemotherapy is known,” Professor Vetter said. “Importantly, it did not reduce the effectiveness of the chemo.”