Drug-induced cardiotoxicity (DICT) is one of the main reasons of drug withdrawals from the market and an important safety concern both in drug development and clinical use post-marketing. DICT isn't common in all patients, but poses an elevated risk for certain individuals. A significant share of this inter-individual variation arises from differential metabolic clearance of drugs between patients; more precisely, the activity of the liver cytochrome P450 enzymes that catalyze the metabolism of >70% of pharmaceuticals. DICT is a substantial risk factor particularly with many anticancer drugs, some of which can convert into cardiotoxic metabolites. In this project, we explore the possibilities for using extracellular vesicles (EVs), secreted into body fluids by liver and cardiac cells alike, as biomarkers of specifically drug-induced cardiotoxicity – more precisely for minimally invasive P450 phenotyping and safety monitoring for the risk of drug-induced cardiotoxicity.

2025

2026