Cancer Survivors Exhibit a Significantly Higher Risk of Cardiovascular Disease

The dominant cancer therapies of chemotherapy and radiotherapy have not yet been replaced by immunotherapies for more than a handful of cancer types. These classes of therapy produce a significantly increased burden of senescent cells in patients; one of the goals of cancer therapy is to drive cancerous cells into senescence, those that cannot be killed. These additional senescent cells in turn accelerate the progression of degenerative aging. The advent of senolytic therapies to clear senescent cells from aged tissues will make a sizable difference to these patients. More effort should be undertaken today to enable patient access to the existing, low-cost first generation senolytics, such as the dasatinib and quercetin combination.

A new study found that adult survivors of cancer had a 42% greater risk of cardiovascular diseases (CVD) than people without cancer. The authors found that survivors of cancer had a particularly higher risk of developing heart failure (52% higher risk), followed by stroke (22% higher risk). There were no significant differences in the risk of coronary heart disease between those with and without cancer.

The analysis used data from the Atherosclerosis Risk in Communities Study, a prospective community-based population study, initiated in 1987, of CVD and its risk factors. The study had 12,414 participants, with a mean age of 54 who were followed through 2020. Although the study was not designed to pinpoint the causes of increased CVD risk among survivors of cancer, the main hypothesis involves a combination of cancer and noncancer related factors such as inflammation, oxidative stress, cardiac toxicity from specific cancer treatments, and traditional risk factors like hypertension, diabetes, and obesity. While the excess risk of CVD in this group was not fully explained by traditional cardiovascular risk factors such as obesity, high blood pressure and cholesterol levels, and diabetes, it is still very important to address these risk factors that are common in survivors of cancer.

Cardiac toxicity from cancer therapies, or negative cardiac effects of cancer therapies, may be particularly important in increasing the risk of CVD in some survivors of cancer. For example, survivors of breast and blood cancers had significantly higher risk of CVD, and these cancers are typically managed with a combination of chemotherapy and chest radiation that can damage the heart. Conversely, survivors of prostate cancer did not have an increased risk of CVD. These patients can be managed with active surveillance or local therapies without the risk of cardiac toxicity.

Link: https://www.eurekalert.org/news-releases/957222

Comments

Sonolytic therapies will not reduce such risks. As far as I understand, they might actually reduce the relapse of cancer too.

Posted by: Cuberat at July 4th, 2022 8:23 AM

ps.
I have added an extro "not ". The seonlytic therapies should reduce the risks.

Posted by: Cuberat at July 4th, 2022 9:01 AM
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