Correlation Between Blood Transforming Growth Factor-Beta 1 (TGF-β1) Levels and Cardiac Function Parameters Following...

Area of Science:

• Cardiology
• Oncology
• Biochemistry

Background:

• Doxorubicin chemotherapy can cause significant cardiotoxicity, affecting heart function.
• Transforming growth factor-beta 1 (TGF-β1) is implicated in cardiac fibrosis and doxorubicin-induced cardiotoxicity.
• Limited human studies explore the TGF-β1 link to doxorubicin cardiotoxicity.

Purpose of the Study:

• To assess the correlation between serum TGF-β1 levels and cardiac function parameters.
• Evaluate ejection fraction (EF), E/A, E/E', TAPSE, and GLS post-doxorubicin chemotherapy.
• Investigate TGF-β1 as a potential biomarker for doxorubicin cardiotoxicity.

Main Methods:

• Cross-sectional study of 56 cancer patients 3-12 months post-doxorubicin.
• Measured serum TGF-β1 levels and cardiac function via echocardiography.
• Used correlation analysis (Pearson/Spearman) with significance set at p < 0.05.

Main Results:

• No significant correlation between TGF-β1 and EF, E/A, E/E', TAPSE, or GLS in the overall cohort.
• A significant correlation was found between TGF-β1 and E/E' in patients with cumulative doxorubicin dose ≥600 mg/m² (n=30).

Conclusions:

• TGF-β1 did not correlate with most cardiac function indices in the general cohort.
• TGF-β1 significantly correlated with E/E' (diastolic dysfunction) in patients receiving higher doxorubicin doses.
• TGF-β1 may be a biomarker for anthracycline-induced cardiac fibrosis, especially with higher cumulative doses.