Herceptin Research Today is a free monthly online journal that collates and summarizes the latest research about Herceptin, including details on side-effects, breast cancer, treatment, therapy.

Molecular mechanisms of cardiotoxicity of tyrosine kinase inhibition.

Force T, Krause DS, Van Etten RA

Center for Translational Medicine and Cardiology Division, Department of Medicine, Thomas Jefferson University, 1025 Walnut Street, Philadelphia, PA 19107, USA. thomas.force@jefferson.edu

Cancer therapy has progressed remarkably in recent years. In no area has this been more apparent than in the development of "targeted therapies", particularly those using drugs that inhibit the activity of certain tyrosine kinases, activating mutations or amplifications of which are causal, or strongly contributory, to tumorigenesis. However, some of these therapies have been associated with toxicity to the heart. Here we summarize what is known about the cardiotoxicity of cancer drugs that target tyrosine kinases. We focus on basic mechanisms through which interruption of specific signalling pathways leads to cardiomyocyte dysfunction and/or death, and contrast this with therapeutic responses in cancer cells.

Published 25 April 2007 in Nat Rev Cancer, 7(5): 332-44.
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