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Cytostatic Drugs, Neuregulin Activation of ErbB Receptors, and Angiogenesis

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Abstract

Cytostatic drugs were developed to target specific molecular pathways shown to drive tumor growth. Although this approach has been very successful in treating cancers, its use is often hindered by off-target toxic effects. An example of this is trastuzumab, which targets the erbB2 kinase receptor. This drug successfully decreases tumor growth but adversely affects cardiac function. This observation led to important studies elucidating the importance of the erbB pathway in cardioprotection and angiogenesis. This review addresses the problem of off-target effects of cytostatic drugs (specifically trastuzumab) and their effect on cardiac function, summarizes the neuregulin-1 (NRG)/erbB signaling pathway, and discusses its importance in cardiac myocytes. It also highlights important findings showing the role of NRG/erbB signaling in microvascular preservation and angiogenesis, with a brief discussion of preclinical and clinical data regarding treatment of cardiovascular disease with NRG.

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Acknowledgment

Dr. Russell’s institution has received grants R01HL80176 and K08HL04429 from the National Institutes of Health–NHLBI. Dr. Hedhli is supported by T32HL007950.

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No potential conflicts of interest relevant to this article were reported.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Internal Medicine, Yale University, 333 Cedar Street, 3 FMP, P.O. Box 208017, New Haven, CT, 06520-8017, USA

    Nadia Hedhli

  2. Department of Internal Medicine, Section of Cardiovascular Medicine, Yale University, 333 Cedar Street, 3 FMP, P.O. Box 208017, New Haven, CT, 06520-8017, USA

    Kerry Strong Russell

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  1. Nadia Hedhli
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Correspondence to Kerry Strong Russell.

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Hedhli, N., Russell, K.S. Cytostatic Drugs, Neuregulin Activation of ErbB Receptors, and Angiogenesis. Curr Hypertens Rep 12, 411–417 (2010). https://doi.org/10.1007/s11906-010-0148-9

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s11906-010-0148-9

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