From Survival to Survivorship: Cardiac MRI and Serum Biomarkers of Early Detection and Therapy for Doxorubicin-Induced Cardiotoxicity in Mice

Anthracycline, like Doxorubicin (DOX), induced cardiotoxicity is a major cause of morbidity among childhood cancer survivors. Prior clinical studies diagnose using isolated measures of cardiac function, but by the time cardiotoxicity is detected, irreversible damage has already occurred. We hypothesize that multi-parametric cardiac MRI (CMR), and concurrent treatment with cardioprotective agents is a more sensitive biomarker for early diagnosis of DOX-induced cardiotoxicity. We identified DOX cardiotoxicity by CMR derived LV strain and Luminex biomarker analysis prior to any decrease in EF and SV. Our study suggests multi-parametric CMR with concurrent cardioprotective treatment can be a surrogate endpoint for therapeutic efficacy.