ABSTRACT
Introduction
Cardiovascular diseases are the main cause of treatment-related morbidity and mortality in childhood cancer patients. Anthracyclines, one of the most common chemotherapeutic agents in treatment regimens, are implicated in chemotherapy-induced cardiotoxicity.
Areas covered
This review describes the pharmacogenomic markers related to anthracycline-induced cardiotoxicity affecting childhood cancer patients. We also included a brief overview of the applicability of reported findings to the well-established PETALE cohort of childhood acute lymphoblastic leukemia survivors of the Sainte-Justine University Health Center (Canada).
Expert opinion
The wide variation in interindividual susceptibility to anthracycline-induced cardiotoxicity, along with a multitude of genetic variants detected through association studies, suggests that genetic contributions could be essential for the design of new individualized preventive approaches.
Article highlights
Anthracyclines, highly effective anticancer agents widely used to treat a variety of childhood malignancies, are linked to chemotherapy‐induced cardiotoxicity.
Known clinical and treatment-related risk factors do not adequately explain variability in response to anthracyclines, suggesting the contribution of genetic determinants.
Gene-treatment interactions in the context of specific treatment protocols are important for the implementation of pharmacogenetics findings.
This box summarizes the key points contained in the article.
Acknowledgments
The authors would like to thank all childhood ALL survivors and their parents for the participation in the PETALE study.
Supplementary material
Supplemental data for this article can be accessed here.
Availability of data and materials
The datasets used and/or analyzed during the current study are available from the corresponding author upon request.
Ethics approval and consent to participate
Written informed consent was obtained from every patient or parent/legal guardian. The study was conducted in accordance with the Declaration of Helsinki and the protocol was approved by the Ethics Committee of SJUHC.
Declaration of interest
The authors have no relevant affiliations or financial involvement with any organization or entity with a financial interest in or financial conflict with the subject matter or materials discussed in the manuscript. This includes employment, consultancies, honoraria, stock ownership or options, expert testimony, grants or patents received or pending, or royalties.
Reviewer disclosures
Peer reviewers on this manuscript have no relevant financial or other relationships to disclose.
Correction Statement
This article has been republished with minor changes. These changes do not impact the academic content of the article.