(ANSA) - TRIESTE, 08 NOV - Saving the lives of cancer patients by protecting the heart.
This is the goal of a project launched in Trieste and whose first preliminary experiments, conducted by clinicians and researchers, appear "promising".
In Italy, cancers represent the second most common cause of death with about 360,000 new cancers diagnosed every year.
Chemo and radiotherapy are the first treatment choice for many of these cases, but their use is limited by the risk of cardiovascular complications and heart failure. Some of the most widely used chemotherapeutic agents are characterized by persistent and irreversible adverse effects on the cardiac level, which sometimes prevent the completion of the antineoplastic treatment. In the laboratory of Medicinamolecolare of the Icgeb under the direction of Mauro Jacket a new screening method has been developed to directly identify new cardioprotective molecules in vivo using adeno-associated viral vectors (AAV).
This screening - informs a note - led to the identification of 3 genes, Chrdl1, Fam3b and Fam3c, effective in protecting the heart. With the contribution of the researchers of the Trieste Cardiology Complex, directed by Gianfranco Sinagra, it has been hypothesized that these molecules may also be effective in a model of anthracycline damage, mediated by apoptotic and fibrotic processes.
The objectives of the project, supported by Fincantieri with the Cardiothoracovascular Department of the Giuliano Isontina University Healthcare Company and the Medical Sciences Department of the University of Trieste, will be the validation of the preliminary observations, the study of the molecular mechanisms of cardioprotection and the study of the efficacy of these factors in various models of cardiotoxicity from chemotherapy. (HANDLE).