UB and Roswell Park team discovers genetic link between chemotherapy drugs and cardiac damage

A team of investigators from the University at Buffalo and Roswell Park Comprehensive Cancer Center has discovered a genetic link between the anthracycline drug doxorubicin and decline in cardiac function.

The manuscript, “CBR3 V244M is associated with LVEF reduction in breast cancer patients treated with doxorubicin,” is the culmination of over five years of collaborative research and was published in the journal Cardio-Oncology. 

In previous studies, researchers identified a link between changes in a gene known as CBR3 and the risk of anthracycline-related cardiac damage in survivors of pediatric cancers. For this study, the research team recruited 155 breast cancer patients at Roswell Park Comprehensive Cancer Center receiving treatment with doxorubicin.

92 of those patients had a specific form of variation in the CBR3 gene and received an echocardiogram before treatment with doxorubicin and six months after treatment. Those patients with the CBR3 gene variant exhibited changes in echocardiographic parameters suggestive of early anthracycline-related cardiac damage.

The identification of these genetic variants may pave the way for improved treatment surveillance and facilitate more informed therapeutic decision-making regarding cancer prevention and treatment.

Authors on the study:

• Jennifer K. Lang, Assistant Professor, Department of Medicine, Jacobs School of Medicine and Biomedical Sciences, University at Buffalo
  
• Badri Karthikeyan, Research Assistant, Department of Medicine, Jacobs School of Medicine and Biomedical Sciences, University at Buffalo
• Adolfo Quiñones-Lombraña, former postdoctoral research associate, Department of Pharmaceutical Sciences, School of Pharmacy and Pharmaceutical Sciences, University at Buffalo
• Rachael Hageman Blair, Associate Professor, Department of Biostatistics, School of Public Health and Health Professions, University at Buffalo
  
• Amy P. Early, Associate Clinical Professor, Department of Medicine,  Jacobs School of Medicine and Biomedical Sciences, University at Buffalo; Assistant Professor of Oncology, Roswell Park Comprehensive Cancer Center
  
• Ellis G. Levine, Professor, Department of Medicine, Jacobs School of Medicine and Biomedical Sciences, University at Buffalo; Professor of Oncology and Chief of Breast Medicine, Roswell Park Comprehensive Cancer Center
• Umesh C. Sharma, Assistant Professor, Department of Medicine, Jacobs School of Medicine and Biomedical Sciences, University at Buffalo
• Javier Blanco, Professor, Department of Pharmaceutical Sciences,  School of Pharmacy and Pharmaceutical Sciences, University at Buffalo
• Tracey O’Connor (Senior Author), Associate Professor, Department of Medicine, Jacobs School of Medicine and Biomedical Sciences, University at Buffalo; Associate Professor of Oncology, Roswell Park Comprehensive Cancer Center
  

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