Abstract
Cardio-oncology is a clinical/scientific discipline which aims to prevent and/or treat cardiovascular diseases in cancer patients. Although a large number of cancer treatments are known to cause cardiovascular toxicity, they are still widely used because they are highly effective. Unfortunately, therapeutic interventions to prevent and/or treat cancer treatment-induced cardiovascular toxicity have not been established yet. A major challenge for such interventions is to protect the cardiovascular system without compromising the therapeutic benefit of anticancer medications. Intriguingly, the polyphenolic natural compound resveratrol and its analogs have been shown in preclinical studies to protect against cancer treatment-induced cardiovascular toxicity. They have also been shown to possess significant anticancer properties on their own, and to enhance the anticancer effect of other cancer treatments. Thus, they hold significant promise to protect the cardiovascular system and fight the cancer at the same time. In this review, we will discuss the current knowledge regarding the cardio-protective and the anticancer properties of resveratrol and its analogs. Thereafter, we will discuss the challenges that face the clinical application of these agents. To conclude, we will highlight important gaps of knowledge and future research directions to accelerate the translation of these exciting preclinical findings to cancer patient care.
Highlights
Cardio-oncology has emerged as a novel clinical/scientific discipline with a goal to prevent and/or treat cardiovascular diseases in cancer patients, those arising as adverse effects of cancer treatment [1]
There is an obvious mismatch between the plethora of preclinical studies and the limited number of clinical studies of resveratrol that support its use in the field of cardio-oncology
Despite the very promising preclinical findings of resveratrol as a cardio-protective agent, there are still several questions that need to be answered before advancing resveratrol into clinical trials
Summary
Cardio-oncology has emerged as a novel clinical/scientific discipline with a goal to prevent and/or treat cardiovascular diseases in cancer patients, those arising as adverse effects of cancer treatment [1]. While cardio-oncology has recently been acknowledged as a clinical subspecialty [2], the cardiovascular adverse effects of cancer treatment were recognized more than 40 years ago. The cardiotoxicity of anthracyclines was reported in cancer patients in the early 1970s [3,4]. Despite the known cardiotoxic effects of these anticancer agents, they are still commonly used to treat a wide variety of malignancies in pediatric and adult cancer patients, due to their effectiveness as anticancer agents. Trastuzumab has been shown to cause cardiac dysfunction in breast cancer patients which was exacerbated if used in combination with an anthracycline [5,6]. There is an urgent need to identify new therapeutic agents
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