Researchers to investigate treatments to protect children’s hearts during cancer treatment

25 Sep 2023

Research investigating alternative medicines to protect the hearts of children from drug-induced heart damage has received funding from The Little Princess Trust.

• The UCC study aims to investigate treatments that prevents the toxic effects of anti-cancer drugs.
• Researchers hope their findings will help to improve the quality of life of cancer survivors.
• €55,000 funding received from The Little Princess Trust.

The funding, which is administered by Children’s Cancer and Leukaemia Group (CCLG), enables researchers to test their new and exciting ideas and gather data that will support their research through a more traditional grant scheme in the future.

The University College Cork (UCC) study will investigate alternative medical solutions to protect the hearts of children. Currently, the long-term effects of drugs used to treat cancer are seen more frequently due to cancer survivors living longer. To date, only one such drug, dexrazoxane, has been approved to prevent cardiotoxicity. However, its use in children is controversial.

Led by Dr Róisín Kelly-Laubscher from the Department of Pharmacology and Therapeutics in the School of Medicine UCC, this study will determine whether giving an alternative drug, ethanolamine, can decrease damage caused by doxorubicin by assessing the effects of ethanolamine on cardiomyocytes, the cells in the heart responsible for the heart’s contraction.

The study will investigate treatment in preclinical models to determine the best time span to treat the cells for optimal protection and to identify the best time to treat the cells for optimal protection i.e., before, during or after the treatment of doxorubicin. If successful, results from this study will be used towards a larger scale study to progress ethanolamine towards clinical trials.

“Scientists have developed some excellent drugs for the treatment of cancer, but some of these drugs can also damage the heart, giving rise to the possibility of cancer survivors developing heart problems that can have a negative impact on their quality of life. By developing a treatment that prevents the toxic effects of anti-cancer drugs, we hope to ultimately improve the quality of life of cancer survivors,” said Dr Kelly-Laubscher.

Dr Kelly-Laubscher has also recently been appointed to the management committee of COST action: EU-METAHEART (European network to tackle METAbolic alterations in HEART failure), which brings together researchers from Europe to contribute a broad spectrum of expertise, cutting-edge technologies, and exchange to foster breakthrough science to improve the treatment of patients with heart failure.

The Little Princess Trust has funded children’s cancer research to over £22.5 million. Ashley Ball-Gamble, Chief Executive of CCLG, spoke about his charity’s work with The Little Princess Trust: “Our position as the experts in childhood cancer makes us ideally placed to support and administer The Little Princess Trust’s extensive research funding portfolio. These projects are a vital step forward for childhood cancer and will help shape a brighter future for children with cancer, where every child has a safe and effective treatment and goes on to lead a long d happy life.”