The “miracle” cancer drug Gleevec and other similarly based drugs (tyrosine kinase inhibitors) could be harmful to the heart, according to a research at the Center for Translational Medicine at Jefferson Medical College in Philadelphia.
A team of scientists led by Thomas Force, M.D., James C. Wilson Professor of Medicine at Jefferson Medical College of Thomas Jefferson University, has shown in studies in both mice and in heart cells in culture that Gleevec can cause heart failure.
“We found that the molecular target of the drug, the Abelson tyrosine kinase (ABL) protein, serves a maintenance function in cardiac muscle cells and is necessary for their health,” Dr. Force explains.
“While the cancer is treated effectively, there will be some percentage of patients who could experience significant left ventricular dysfunction and even heart failure from this.”
Gleevec, a new type of cancer drug, is the first of its kind developed to fight cancer by turning off an enzyme that causes cells to become cancerous and multiply.
The results of the above study conducted in 10 patients with chronic myelogenous leukemia (CML) who developed severe congestive heart failure while taking Gleevec, appeared July 23, 2006, in an advanced online edition of the journal Nature Medicine.
Read more at Thomas Jefferson University Hospital.
At A Hearty Life, I also wrote about Glamour editor Erin Zammett Ruddy who is taking Gleevec but considering stopping to get pregnant.