Immunotherapy based on immune checkpoint inhibitors (ICIs) is currently broadly used in the treatment of different types of cancer. The treatment targeting programmed cell death protein 1/programmed death-ligand 1 axis is already approved by Food and Drug Administration for numerous cancers. These kinds of therapy brought spectacular results in the treatment of non-small cell lung cancer where systemic therapy was ineffective. However, a wide range of applied therapies based on ICIs in the clinic have led to unexpected side effects, such as severe cardiotoxicity. It needs to be underlined that the molecular mechanism of myocarditis in response to ICIs is still not fully understood. Lack of sufficient knowledge, especially concerning the kind of risk factors increasing probability of myocarditis, poses currently a large clinical problem. Continuous cardiac monitoring of patients who undergo ICI treatment presents another problem as it is cost-ineffective for the healthcare system. Herein, we highlight the risks of use of anticancer therapy based on ICIs. We also stress that detailed monitoring of any event of cardiotoxicity following ICIs treatment should be carefully investigated and registered to give a global overview of the frequency of myocarditis occurrence. Moreover, we propose that the extension of molecular and systemic knowledge of etiology of myocarditis as a side effect, including the role of protein kinases, will be highly beneficial for the medical field. Last but not least, better understanding of mechanisms of cardiotoxicity induction will improve the safety of cancer patients and will help clinicians in prediction of unexpected side effect occurrence.
Keywords: PD-1/PD-L1; cardiotoxicity; immune checkpoint inhibitors; immunotherapy; myocarditis.
© 2020 International Union of Biochemistry and Molecular Biology.