Dietary inorganic nitrate may reduce heart dysfunction caused by powerful anti-cancer drug
Virginia Commonwealth University researchers have found that nutrient supplementation, like the kind that is found in leafy greens, spinach and lettuce, may reduce the damage to the heart caused by a powerful anti-cancer drug.
Since the 1960s, the anti-cancer drug doxorubicin has remained a top choice for chemotherapy because of its superior efficacy to fight cancer. However, the drug is known to lead to permanent heart damage. Currently, there is no Food and Drug Administration-approved therapy for prevention or treatment of heart damage caused by doxorubicin.
In a study, published online ahead of print on May 16 in the Journal of the American College of Cardiology, using a mouse model the team demonstrated that mice treated with dietary inorganic nitrate had a reduced rate of heart dysfunction caused by doxorubicin. On a molecular level, the dietary nitrate stabilized the mitochondria and protected against free-radical damage to the heart.
"These results may have significant impact in reducing the risk and degree of heart damage in patients who depend on doxorubicin for treatment of cancers. This is because inorganic nitrate is a water-soluble and very inexpensive chemical that could be ideal for long-term oral administration during the course of cancer treatment with doxorubicin," said Rakesh C. Kukreja, Ph.D., principal investigator for the project at VCU, and the Eric Lipman professor in cardiology in the VCU School of Medicine and the scientific director of the VCU Pauley Heart Center.
According to Kukreja, the nitrate dose used in this study is 400 percent of the World Health Organization Acceptable Daily Intake (WHO-ADI). He said that nitrate can easily be obtained from foods including leafy green vegetables, spinach and lettuces, which have high levels of nitrate, or beverages such as beet juice that are commercially available and safely used in humans.
Mitochondria are cellular organelles critical for converting oxygen and nutrients into ATP, the key fuel for cellular function. The free radicals generated in the mitochondria of cardiac cells by doxorubicin lead to the breakdown of regular cellular function, resulting in programmed cardiac cell death. Over time, cell death has been linked to decreased heart function or heart failure.
Provided by
Virginia Commonwealth University
-
Researchers discover a drug combination that shrinks tumors in vivo
Sep 27, 2010 |
not rated yet |
0
-
Potential new therapeutic molecular target to fight cancer
Nov 01, 2007 |
not rated yet |
0
-
Researchers identify new function of protein in cellular respiration
Jan 28, 2009 |
not rated yet |
0
-
Want more efficient muscles? Eat your spinach
Feb 01, 2011 |
not rated yet |
0
-
Docetaxel given after doxorubicin reduces recurrence
Jan 08, 2008 |
not rated yet |
0
-
Motion perception revisited: High Phi effect challenges established motion perception assumptions
Apr 23, 2013 |
3 / 5 (2) |
2
-
Anything you can do I can do better: Neuromolecular foundations of the superiority illusion (Update)
Apr 02, 2013 |
4.5 / 5 (11) |
5
-
The visual system as economist: Neural resource allocation in visual adaptation
Mar 30, 2013 |
5 / 5 (2) |
9
-
Separate lives: Neuronal and organismal lifespans decoupled
Mar 27, 2013 |
4.9 / 5 (8) |
0
-
Sizing things up: The evolutionary neurobiology of scale invariance
Feb 28, 2013 |
4.8 / 5 (10) |
14
-
Assumptions of Griffith's fracture theory
3 hours ago
-
Current leading voltage or vice versa concept
4 hours ago
-
Angular Frequency of AC voltage
8 hours ago
-
Modeling Rigid Body - Unsure about Euler angles and angular velocity
8 hours ago
-
Function for a bullet's path
9 hours ago
-
Elementary questions relating to Newton's laws of motion
11 hours ago
- More from Physics Forums - Classical Physics
More news stories
Hospitals' cardiac arrest incidence and survival rates go hand in hand
Hospitals with the highest rates of cardiac arrests tend to have the poorest survival rates for those cases, new University of Michigan Health System research shows.
Cardiology
13 hours ago |
not rated yet |
0
Effect of fluid and sodium restrictions on weight loss among patients with heart failure
A clinical trial of 75 patients hospitalized with acute decompensated heart failure (ADHF) suggests that aggressive fluid and sodium restriction has no effect on weight loss or clinical stability at three days but was associated ...
Cardiology
13 hours ago |
not rated yet |
0
Which women should be screened for high cholesterol?
National guidelines recommend that at-risk women be screened for elevated cholesterol levels to reduce their chances of developing cardiovascular disease. But who is 'at risk?' The results of a study by investigators ...
Cardiology
17 hours ago |
not rated yet |
0
Atherosclerotic disease heredity mapped in nationwide study
Researchers at Lund University in Sweden have mapped the significance of heredity for common forms of atherosclerotic disease. No studies have previously examined whether different forms of the disease share heredity.
Cardiology
18 hours ago |
not rated yet |
0
Study finds improved CPR quality saves lives
(Medical Xpress)—Life-saving CPR has been a foundation of emergency medicine for more than a half century. But researchers at the University of Arizona College of Medicine-Phoenix are continuing to refine the procedure, ...
Cardiology
20 hours ago |
not rated yet |
0
Nobel laureate plays down flu pandemic scaremongering
A Nobel prize-winning scientist Tuesday played down "shock-horror scenarios" that a new virus strain will emerge with the potential to kill millions of people.
No new H7N9 cases in China for a week
No new human cases of the H7N9 virus have been recorded in China for a week, national health authorities said, for the first time since the outbreak began in March.
Genetic predictors of postpartum depression uncovered
Johns Hopkins researchers say they have discovered specific chemical alterations in two genes that, when present during pregnancy, reliably predict whether a woman will develop postpartum depression.
New immune system discovered
(Medical Xpress)—A research team, led by Jeremy Barr, a biology post-doctoral fellow, unveils a new immune system that protects humans and animals from infection.
Child maltreatment increases risk of adult obesity
Children who have suffered maltreatment are 36% more likely to be obese in adulthood compared to non-maltreated children, according to a new study by King's College London. The authors estimate that the prevention or effective ...
The compound in the Mediterranean diet that makes cancer cells 'mortal'
New research suggests that a compound abundant in the Mediterranean diet takes away cancer cells' "superpower" to escape death. By altering a very specific step in gene regulation, this compound essentially re-educates cancer ...