Compositions and methods relating to prevention of chemotherapy-induced alopecia

A method of reducing chemotherapy-induced alopecia in a human patient or a mammalian animal to be subjected to chemotherapy treatment of a tumor not residing in the scalp or other region susceptible to chemotherapy-induced alopecia of the patient or the skin of the mammalian animal against chemotherapy-induced alopecia comprising:

• a) administering an effective amount of a composition comprising a chemical inducer selected from the group consisting of diamide, a benzoquinone ansamycin, an arsenic salt, a tin salt, a zinc salt and an activated HSF1 in nucleic acid or protein form that causes an increase in the concentration of at least one stress protein selected from the group consisting of Hsp90, Hsp70, Hsp25-27 and P-glycoprotein in hair follicles residing in skin or scalp that is exposed to the chemical inducer and that produces an increased resistance of the hair follicles to chemotherapeutic drugs in the scalp or other region susceptible to chemotherapy-induced alopecia of a human patient or the skin of a mammalian;
• and
• b) administering a chemotherapeutic drug to said human patient or said mammalian animal.