Potential Therapeutic Treatments for Doxorubicin-Induced Cardiomyopathy

Doxorubicin (DOX) is an anthracycline antibiotic used to treat many cancers, including breast cancer, leukemia, and Hodgkin’s lymphoma. Positive aspects of DOX use are limited by the cardiomyopathy that it may cause. For this reason, it is crucial to uncover effective treatments against DOX-induced cardiomyopathy (DIC). Oxidative stress plays a pivotal role in DIC, and this understanding has helped guide potential treatments for DIC. The purpose of this study was to review and describe current and emerging treatments for DIC and their potential cardioprotective effects against DIC. The goals were to: (1) provide a single-source report to aid clinicians in exploring different treatment plans that are personalized for their patients and (2) stimulate researchers to consider evaluating promising and emerging treatment modalities. Evolving understanding of DIC pathophysiology remains fundamental in elucidating the course for future medical therapies. The main conclusion of this study was that the use of existing pharmaceutical agents might represent a possible approach towards mitigating DIC with more extensive clinical data. A limitation of all reviewed studies was that none included an experimental model in which DOX was used to treat animals with preexisting cancer. This limitation fails to identify the impacts that cancer may play in DIC pathophysiology and the potential mitigating effects of DIC treatments. Future research should consider this limitation with appropriately revised protocols.