Clonal Hematopoiesis and Risk of Trastuzumab-Related Cardiotoxic Effects

Clonal hematopoiesis of indeterminate potential (CHIP) is linked to an increased incidence of cardiovascular and malignant diseases.

To determine whether CHIP is associated with cardiotoxic effects in patients with breast cancer receiving trastuzumab.

Analyses of human cohorts with complementary animal experimentation were performed using a nationwide population-based cohort (UK Biobank), 1 tertiary referral center (Seoul National University Hospital [SNUH]), and a controlled laboratory setting. UK Biobank participants were enrolled between 2006 and 2010, and SNUH patients were enrolled from January 2004 to March 2024. Data were analyzed from March 2021 to February 2026.

Incident heart failure (HF) in the UK Biobank cohort and trastuzumab-related cardiotoxic effects in the SNUH cohort were the main outcome measures. Trastuzumab-related cardiotoxic effects were defined using established clinical criteria (European Society of Cardiology [ESC], Canadian Trastuzumab Working Group, and Cardiac Review and Evaluation Committee [CREC]). Fine-Gray competing risk models were used to account for death and myocardial infarction; multivariable models were adjusted for age and cardiovascular risk factors in both cohorts, with additional adjustment for anthracycline use in the SNUH cohort. Changes in left ventricular ejection fraction (LVEF) were assessed in Tet2-deficient bone marrow chimeric mice following trastuzumab exposure.

Overall, 15 729 patients with breast cancer from the UK Biobank cohort (mean [SD] age, 58.8 [7.3] years; 107 [0.68%] male) and 454 female patients with breast cancer who received trastuzumab from the SNUH cohort (mean [SD] age, 52.0 [9.6] years) were included. The corresponding 2-year cumulative incidence values for trastuzumab-related cardiotoxic effects were 15.7% vs 5.0% by ESC criteria (Gray test P = .001), 19.9% vs 10.8% by Canadian criteria (P = .01), and 20.9% vs 11.3% by CREC criteria (P = .02). Using the ESC definition, CHIP positivity (variant allele frequency ≥1.0%) was associated with cardiotoxic effects in multivariable competing risk analysis (adjusted subdistribution hazard ratio, 1.91; 95% CI, 1.32-2.76). Tet2-deficient mice demonstrated a significant LVEF reduction following trastuzumab treatment (effect size, -4.2%; 95% CI, -7.91 to -0.49; P = .03); other experimental groups showed no significant change.

In this cohort study, the presence of CHIP was associated with increased susceptibility to trastuzumab-related cardiotoxic effects.