Science

Aaron Sverdlov: Can An Established Anticancer Drug Also Protect the Heart from Chemotherapy-Induced Cardiotoxicity?

Aaron Sverdlov/hmri.org.au

Aug 17, 2025, 06:31

Aaron Sverdlov: Can An Established Anticancer Drug Also Protect the Heart from Chemotherapy-Induced Cardiotoxicity?

Aaron Sverdlov, Professor and Director of Heart Failure at Newcastle University, shared a post on LinkedIn about recent paper by Dongqing Chen et al., published in JMCC.

“New Publication Alert

Can an established anticancer drug also protect the heart from chemotherapy-induced cardiotoxicity?

Our new study suggests – YES! Led by our PhD student, now Dr Kelly Chen under the supervision of Prof Doan Ngo, we found that olaparib (a PARP inhibitor) can ameliorate doxorubicin (Dox)-induced cardiotoxicity in both human cardiomyocytes and a mouse model without compromising doxorubicin’s anticancer activity.

What we show:

In vitro: Olaparib mitigated Dox-triggered injury in human cardiomyocytes and normalized stress/innate immune signaling signatures.
In vivo: Olaparib + Dox preserved cardiac function compared with Dox alone.
Olaparib did not blunt Dox’s anticancer effect.

Cardioprotection aligns with dampening of cGAS–STING innate immune pathway activation and reversal of Dox-induced gene programs.

Why it matters:

Anthracyclines like doxorubicin remain essential for many cancers, but cardiotoxicity limits durable cure. Repurposing an established anticancer as a cardioprotectant offers a pragmatic, translational path to help patients receive optimal cancer therapy while protecting the heart.

Great thanks to other co-authors: Amanda Croft, Tatt Jhong Haw, Conagh Kelly, Lohis Balachandran, Ph.D.”

Title: Anti-cancer agent Olaparib ameliorates doxorubicin-induced cardiotoxicity in vitro and in vivo

Authors: Dongqing Chen, Amanda J. Croft, Tatt Jhong Haw, Conagh Kelly, Lohis Balachandran, Aaron L. Sverdlov, Doan T.M. Ngo

Read The Full Article at JMCC.

Aaron Sverdlov: Can An Established Anticancer Drug Also Protect the Heart from Chemotherapy-Induced Cardiotoxicity?