Statistics estimate that close to 15,000 children receive a cancer diagnosis each year. However, with advances in treatment options, 85% of children with cancer live at least five years after being diagnosed. Various types of treatment for cancers include surgery, chemotherapy, radiation therapy, hormone therapy, immunotherapy, or bone marrow transplant. Deciding the best treatment option for an individual with cancer depends on the type of cancer and the stage of cancer or the extent of the spread of cancer in the body.
One common chemotherapy drug for pediatric cancer is doxorubicin, also known as Adriamycin, which inhibits the production of an enzyme involved in the DNA replication process necessary for cell growth. Although doxorubicin works to improve cancer survival outcomes, one of its side effects is causing damage to the heart later in life. Doxorubicin attaches to iron in the body, leading to the formation of an unstable molecule that damages cardiac muscle cells and mitochondria inside the cell, affecting heart tissue and energy production in cells. Researchers are studying the potential for a drug called dexrazoxane to prevent heart damage in cancer survivors. Dexrazoxane can potentially decrease the amount of iron available that is able to bind to doxorubicin by occupying iron–binding sites. In a study with 195 children with cancer, half of the participants received dexrazoxane before being administered doxorubicin and the other group acted as a control group without dexrazoxane. They found that subjects who received the drug in addition to chemotherapy had overall healthier hearts.
Child receiving chemotherapy treatment.
Image Source: andresr
In a second study, researchers found that, compared to participants who did not receive dexrazoxane, individuals who received dexrazoxane treatment had healthier hearts measured as stronger heart pumping. The researchers observed these results when ventricle size was standardized and better results on a biomarker screening that tested for heart strain. Participants in the study were 29 years old at the start of the study and had a history of childhood cancer. The study also found that dexrazoxane does not interfere with doxorubicin’s function as a chemotherapy drug.
As new studies with dexrazoxane reveal novel findings about its impact in potentially diminishing heart damage due to doxorubicin, research continues to explore its influence on cancer patients. Ongoing studies are investigating the impact of the drug across the lifespan for more than a few decades and the threshold for doxorubicin dosage that deems administration of dexrazoxane necessary. The studies addressed above open doors to new avenues of research that can give a better understanding of cancer-related drugs and how to improve the quality of life for pediatric cancer survivors.
Featured Image: Konstantin Yuganov
