Cause of heart damage from cancer drugs identified

Safer cancer drugs are now one step closer after a new study led by UCL researchers found the likely reason that some treatments damage the heart. Modern drugs can be very effective at treating cancer and have led to greatly improved survival rates. However, some cancer treatments can cause damage to the heart, or cardiotoxicity. This damage can present in a range of ways, from a slight change in the heart's pumping ability to debilitating heart failure. But the ways in which these drugs cause damage have remained elusive. Now an international study, funded by the British Heart Foundation (BHF) and published in the journal Science Advances , has identified proteins in the blood that are linked to an increased risk of developing heart diseases, including heart failure (where your heart can't pump blood around your body as well as it should), and which are also affected by drugs used in cancer treatment. The team say that their findings can explain how cancer drugs cause their damaging effects on the heart and could help to identify those at increased risk.