Antwerp University Hospital

The last decades, treatment options and outcome for cancer patients have improved. 

However, many patients, especially lymphoma and breast cancer patients, are stll being 

treated with anthracyclines and are at risk for cardiovascular side effects, such as heart failure. 

It remains difficult to predict which patient will develop side effects; conversely, early 

treatment is key. Previous work has indicated that a novel blood-derived marker, SERPINA3, 

increases in patients with heart failure. Furthermore, our group recently demonstrated that

breast cancer patients with cardiovascular toxicity after anthracyclines have increased levels 

of SERPINA3 in their blood as well.

The current project entails a prospective study in lymphoma patients receiving anthracycline 

treatment. We will determine both cardiovascular function and SERPINA3 levels before and 

after treatment. More specifically, we will perform cardiac ultrasound and a novel, painless 

and non-invasive technique to study the function of the endothelium, the inner layer of the 

blood vessels, in the eye with flicker light. A proportion of these patients will develop 

cardiotoxicity following anthracycline treatment and they will be followed up during treatment 

with heart failure drugs. In parallel, we will study cardiovascular and endothelial function, and 

the levels of SERPINA3 in an experimental mouse model treated with heart failure drugs in the 

prevention and treatment of cardiotoxicity after anthracyclines.