SAN FRANCISCO. Apr 3: A clear gel rubbed on the scalps of rats was able to prevent hair loss from chemotherapy, one of the most distressing side effects of cancer treatment, scientists said Sunday, reports Reuters.

A researcher for developer Glaxo Wellcome Inc. GLXO. L. said the company hopes to start human tests of the gel. which includes a drug known as GW8510. to see if it could help reduce the trauma of chemotherapy.

Stephen Davis, the researcher who led the studies, said the gel completely prevented hair loss in half of the rats that subsequently underwent chemotherapy. No side effects were detected and the drug did not Interfere with the cancer-killing effects of the treatment. Davis said.

"We noticed a marked protection of the hair, it was Just stunning." Davis told reporters attending the annual meeting of the American Association for

Cancer Research.

Each year about 1 million Americans are diagnosed with cancer and about 500.000 die from the disease. For those undergoing chemotherapy, hair loss is second only to nausea on the list of most bothersome side effects, scientists said.

There is a tremendous unmet need to ... eliminate this additional stress factor among patients already emotionally devastated by a cancer diagnosis.” Davis said.

People fear hair loss so much that some even avoid cancer screening that could detect the disease in its early stages when it is easiest to treat, said Dr. William Halt, a cancer specialist who reviewed Glaxo's studies on GW8510.

A drug to prevent hair loss would have "an enormous impact not Just on the patient receiving therapy but on the fear it generates." said Halt, who heads the Cancer Institute of New Jersey.