Young adult kidney cancer survivors at higher risk of heart problems: study

According to one study, researchers found that many teen and young adult kidney cancer survivors have high blood pressure, or elevated levels of high blood pressure, at a significantly increased risk of cardiovascular problems. The study was published in ‘The Journal of the National Comprehensive Cancer Network’. Cardiovascular disease is a leading cause of health complications and death among adolescents and young adults (AYAs) with cancer, defined as patients aged 15 to 39 years.

A study published July 5 in the Journal of the National Comprehensive Cancer Network looked at the incidence and risk of high blood pressure (hypertension) and heart failure in AYA patients with kidney cancer who were also given a drug that blocks blood vessel growth. Used to stop of their treatment.

The researchers focused on the effects of two drugs called sunitinib and sorafenib. They found that about half of AYAs given sorafenib and one-third of AYAs given sunitinib developed high blood pressure.

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“The large number of AYAs who had high blood pressure during treatment with sunitinib or sorafenib suggests that individuals who do not have previously identifiable predisposing factors – such as older age, obesity and male gender – are also more likely to develop high blood pressure.” drugs,” said study lead author Wendy Botinor, MD, a cardio-oncologist and member of the Cancer Prevention and Control Research Program at Massey and VCU Health Poly Heart Center.

Contrary to their original hypothesis, the researchers found that younger age was not associated with a lower risk of heart failure among AYA cancer survivors compared to older cancer patients. In fact, this population is at risk for a type of heart failure called left ventricular systolic dysfunction.

According to the American Cancer Society, approximately 90,000 AYAs are diagnosed with cancer each year in the United States. Kidney, thyroid and colorectal tumors are among the more common cancers in this age group, a trend that has been increasing over the past few decades.

The risk of heart disease among AYAs with cancer is more than twice that of people in the same age group without cancer, and the risk of death among AYAs with heart disease is almost 10 times higher than among AYAs without heart disease. As indicated by several studies in the last decade.
High blood pressure forces the heart and blood vessels to work overtime, eventually damaging the tissues in the arteries and increasing a person’s chances of irregular heartbeat, heart attack or stroke.

Chemical signals within the body control a process called angiogenesis, which is the production of new blood vessels. One of these chemical signals – vascular endothelial growth factor (VEGF) – sticks to the surface of other cells to influence the growth and survival of new blood vessels.

Angiogenesis plays an important role in the progression of solid tumors because cancer cells require oxygen and nutrients from the blood to grow and spread. A class of drugs called angiogenesis inhibitors are often used alone or in combination with other treatments to prevent the growth of blood vessels that support tumor growth.

The study looked at patients with early-stage kidney cancer who received a specific type of angiogenesis inhibitor – a VEGF inhibitor – as part of their treatment. Sunitinib and sorafenib are VEGF inhibitors.

“Although VEGF inhibitors are often used as an effective therapeutic option for adult and pediatric cancer patients, cardiac toxicity can be a significant limitation of this treatment, with hypertension and left ventricular dysfunction being the most common, Botinor said. Historically, scientific understanding of the cardiovascular toxicity of these drugs has been very limited among AYAs.

“Adolescents and young adults are an under-represented group in cancer research with a significant cardiovascular burden,” Botinor said. “Understanding the relationship between cancer diagnosis, treatment, and heart disease is essential for promoting cardiovascular health throughout the lifetime of adolescent and young adult cancer survivors.”