Heart damage cause from cancer drugs identified

Safer cancer drugs are now one step closer after a new study led by UCL (University College London) researchers found the likely reason that some treatments damage the heart.

Now an international study has identified proteins in the blood that are linked to an increased risk of developing heart diseases, including heart failure, and which are also affected by drugs used in cancer treatment.

The team say that their findings can explain how cancer drugs cause their damaging effects on the heart and could help to identify those at increased risk. In the long run, they believe this will help to improve cancer treatments, with new drugs potentially being developed that can shrink tumours without affecting the identified proteins.

In addition, the study reveals new potential drug targets for treating heart diseases including heart failure. These may work by inhibiting proteins linked to higher disease risk, or activating proteins linked to lower risk.

The researchers first performed a genome-wide association study, searching through the DNA of nearly 37,000 people without heart disease enrolled in the UK Biobank study. This identified genetic variants linked to changes to the structure and function of the pumping chambers of the heart - the ventricles.

Reference:

Druggable proteins influencing cardiac structure and function: Implications for heart failure therapies and cancer cardiotoxicity,Science Advances, DOI 10.1126/sciadv.add4984