Growth differentiation factor 15 plays a role in predicting and monitoring the cardiotoxicity of epirubicin/cyclophosphamide-docetaxel-trastuzumab in the treatment of patients with HER-2 positive breast cancer / 实用肿瘤学杂志

ABSTRACT

Objective The aim of current study was to evaluate the effect of growth differentiation factor 15( GDF-15) on predicting and monitoring the cardiotoxicity of epirubicin/cyclophosphamide-docetaxel-trastuzumab(EC-D-T)in the treatment of HER-2 positive breast cancer patients. Methods Seventy-three patients with HER-2 positive breast cancer who received EC-D-T adjuvant therapy were enrolled. Serum levels of GDF-15,cardiac troponin I(cTnl)and amino terminal brain natriuretic peptide precursor(NT-proBNP)were measured before adjuvant therapy(M0)and after adjuvant therapy at 3 months(M3 ),6 months(M6 ),9 months(M9 ),12 months(M12 )and 15 months(M15 ). At the same time,patients underwent echocardiography at various time points to assess the left ventricular ejection fraction(LVEF). The cardiotoxicity of this study was defined as(1)LVEF level decreased by ≥10% after treatment and the absolute value of LVEF was below 53% (normal);(2) heart failure,acute coronary syndrome or severe life-threatening heart rate abnormal. Results After initiation of EC-D-T treatment,the level of LVEF gradually decreased. Dur-ing the whole study,a total of 21(28. 8% )patients developed cardiotoxicity. At the same time,patients with cardiotoxicity had signifi-cantly higher levels of GDF-15 at M0 and cTn1 at various time points than those without cardiotoxicity. The level of ProBNP was comparable to those without cardiotoxicity. In addition,Univariate logistic regression analysis showed that baseline GDF-15 might af-fect the risk of cardiotoxicity. Multivariate logistic regression analysis showed that only cTnl level was an independent predictor for the risk of cardiotoxicity, while NT-proBNP level did not predict the risk of cardiotoxicity. Conclusion The incidence of cardiotoxicity in patients with HER-2 positive breast cancer after receiving EC-D-T is high,and GDF-15 can predict and monitor the risk of cardiotoxicity.