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Updated: Feb 6, 2026

Use of the Protease Fluorescent Detection Kit to Determine Protease Activity
Published on: August 4, 2009
Protease-activated receptor 1 activation enhances doxorubicin-induced cardiotoxicity
Silvio Antoniak1, Kohei Tatsumi2, Clare M Schmedes3
1Department of Medicine, Thrombosis and Hemostasis Program, Division of Hematology and Oncology, UNC McAllister Heart Institute, University of North Carolina, Chapel Hill, NC, United States; Department of Pathology and Laboratory Medicine, University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, Chapel Hill, NC, United States.
Objective:
The anti-cancer anthracycline drug Doxorubicin (Dox) causes cardiotoxicity. We investigated the role of protease-activated receptor 1 (PAR-1) in Dox-induced cardiotoxicity.
Methods And Results:
In vitro experiments revealed that PAR-1 enhanced Dox-induced mitochondrial dysfunction, reactive oxygen species and cell death of cardiac myocytes and cardiac fibroblasts. The contribution of PAR-1 to Dox-induced cardiotoxicity was investigated by subjecting PAR-1-/- mice and PAR-1+/+ mice to acute and chronic exposure to Dox. Heart function was measured by echocardiography. PAR-1-/- mice exhibited significant less cardiac injury and dysfunction compared to PAR-1+/+ mice after acute and chronic Dox administration. PAR-1-/- mice had reduced levels of nitrotyrosine, apoptosis and inflammation in their heart compared to PAR-1+/+ mice. Furthermore, inhibition of PAR-1 in wild-type mice with vorapaxar significantly reduced the acute Dox-induced cardiotoxicity.
Conclusion:
Our results indicate that activation of PAR-1 contributes to Dox-induced cardiotoxicity. Inhibition of PAR-1 may be a new approach to reduce Dox-induced cardiotoxicity in cancer patients.
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