Understanding what causes trastuzumab’s cardiotoxicity

A new meta-analysis published in the peer-reviewed OMICS: A Journal of Integrative Biology helps shed light on how changes in mitochondria-related gene expression may cause the cardiotoxicity associated with the cancer therapy trastuzumab. Click here to read the article now. 

Trastuzumab is a monoclonal antibody used in oncotherapy to treat HER2-positive tumors including breast and other cancers. As an adverse effect, trastuzumab elevates the risk of heart failure, implying the involvement of energy production and mitochondrial processes.

Karoline dos Santos Rodrigues, from Universidade Federal do Rio Grande do Sul, Porto Alegre, Brazil, and coauthors, performed a meta-analysis of mitochondria-related gene expression data in trastuzumab-treated cardiomyocytes. They analyzed 1,243 genes and observed 69 up-regulated genes after trastuzumab treatment and 37 down-regulated genes. 

“The meta-analysis indicates that trastuzumab therapy causes an unbalance in mitochondrial functions, which could in part help explain the development of heart failure and yields a list of potential molecular targets,” concluded the investigators.

“Trastuzumab is a frequently prescribed cancer therapy in oncology clinics around the world. The analyses by Rodrigues and colleagues offer innovative insights on mitochondrial dysfunction in an effort to understand the mechanisms of trastuzumab cardiotoxicity. The findings also inform future drug discovery and precision oncology research. I welcome manuscripts on precision/personalized medicine for peer-review in the journal,” says Vural Özdemir, MD, PhD, DABCP, Editor-in-Chief of OMICS.

About the Journal
OMICS: A Journal of Integrative Biology is an authoritative and highly innovative peer-reviewed interdisciplinary journal published monthly online, addressing the latest advances at the intersection of postgenomics medicine, biotechnology, and global society, including the integration of multi-omics knowledge, data analyses and modeling, and applications of high-throughput approaches to study complex biological and societal problems. Public policy, governance, and societal aspects of the large-scale biology and 21st-century data-enabled sciences are also peer-reviewed. Complete tables of content and a sample issue may be viewed on the OMICS: A Journal of Integrative Biology website.

About the Publisher
Mary Ann Liebert, Inc., publishers is known for establishing authoritative peer-reviewed journals in many areas of science and biomedical research. Its biotechnology trade magazine, Genetic Engineering & Biotechnology News (GEN), was the first in its field and is today the industry’s most widely read publication worldwide. A complete list of the firm’s 90 journals, books, and newsmagazines is available on the Mary Ann Liebert, Inc., publishers website.