Review on the Role of Epigenetic Modifications in Doxorubicin-Induced Cardiotoxicity

Himani Kumari; Wan-Hong Huang; Michael W Y Chan

doi:10.3389/fcvm.2020.00056

Review on the Role of Epigenetic Modifications in Doxorubicin-Induced Cardiotoxicity

Front Cardiovasc Med. 2020 May 7:7:56. doi: 10.3389/fcvm.2020.00056. eCollection 2020.

Authors

Himani Kumari¹, Wan-Hong Huang¹, Michael W Y Chan^{1

2

3}

Affiliations

¹ Department of Biomedical Sciences, National Chung Cheng University, Chiayi, Taiwan.
² Epigenomics and Human Disease Research Center, National Chung Cheng University, Chiayi, Taiwan.
³ Center for Innovative Research on Aging Society (CIRAS), National Chung Cheng University, Chiayi, Taiwan.

Abstract

Use of anthracyclines such as doxorubicin (DOX), for the treatment of cancer, is known to induce cardiotoxicity, begetting numerous evaluations of this adverse effect. This review emphasizes the mechanism of how consideration of DOX-induced cardiotoxicity is important for the development of cardioprotective agents. As DOX is involved in mitochondrial dysfunction, enzymes involved in epigenetic modifications that use mitochondrial metabolite as substrate are most likely to be affected. Therefore, this review article focuses on the fact that epigenetic modifications, namely, DNA methylation, histone modifications, and noncoding RNA expression, contribute to DOX-associated cardiotoxicity. Early interventions needed for patients undergoing chemotherapy, to treat or prevent heart failure, would, overall, improve the survival, and quality of life of cancer patients. These epigenetic modifications can either be used as molecular markers for cancer prognosis or represent molecular targets to attenuate DOX-induced cardiotoxicity in cancer patients.

Keywords: cancer; cardiotoxicity; chemotherapy; doxorubicin; epigenetics.

Publication types

Review