Anthracycline chemotherapy‐mediated vascular dysfunction as a model of accelerated vascular aging

Cardiovascular diseases (CVD) are the leading cause of death worldwide, and age is by far the greatest risk factor for developing CVD. Vascular dysfunction, including endothelial dysfunction and arterial stiffening, is responsible for much of the increase in CVD risk with aging. A key mechanism involved in vascular dysfunction with aging is oxidative stress, which reduces the bioavailability of nitric oxide (NO) and induces adverse changes to the extracellular matrix of the arterial wall (e.g., elastin fragmentation/degradation, collagen deposition) and an increase in advanced glycation end products, which form crosslinks in arterial wall structural proteins. Although vascular dysfunction and CVD are most prevalent in older adults, several conditions can “accelerate” these events at any age. One such factor is chemotherapy with anthracyclines, such as doxorubicin (DOXO), to combat common forms of cancer. Children, adolescents, and young adults treated with these chemotherapeutic agents demonstrate impaired vascular function and an increased risk of future CVD development compared with healthy age‐matched controls. Anthracycline treatment also worsens vascular dysfunction in midlife (50–64 years of age) and older (65 and older) adults such that endothelial dysfunction and arterial stiffness are greater compared to age‐matched controls. Collectively, these observations indicate that use of anthracycline chemotherapeutic agents induces a vascular aging‐like phenotype and that the latter contributes to premature CVD in cancer survivors exposed to these agents. Here, we review the existing literature supporting these ideas, discuss potential mechanisms as well as interventions that may protect arteries from these adverse effects, identify research gaps, and make recommendations for future research.