A healthy gut microbiome prior to chemotherapy could help protect against cardiotoxicity as a result of breast cancer therapy, according to new findings presented by Antoniades et al at the European Society of Cardiology (ESC) Cardio-Oncology 2025 annual conference.
Background
Cardiotoxicity is a common adverse effect of many cancer treatments, including chemotherapy. As treatments for breast cancer improve and more patients are recovering, a greater proportion of them are living with the long-term adverse effects of treatment.
“To allow cancer survivors [to experience] healthier lives, we need to find new ways to protect them from the long-term side effects of chemotherapy. This study … asks whether the microbiome could play a role in how well patient’s hearts fare during chemotherapy,” explained lead study author Athos Antoniades, PhD, Head of Research and Development at Stremble Ventures.
Study Methods and Results
In the study, researchers recruited 98 female patients aged over 60 years who were diagnosed with breast cancer across treatment centers in Cyprus, Greece, and Italy. The participants underwent echocardiograms to determine their heart function as well as blood tests to test for known biomarkers of an increased risk of cardiotoxicity during treatment. The researchers used genetic sequencing to profile the patients’ gut bacteria prior to the receipt of cancer treatment.
The researchers identified an association between the gut bacteria Bacteroides and cardiac biomarkers. They noted that this bacterium was prevalent among patients who experienced cardiovascular health biomarkers such as left ventricular global longitudinal strain, NTproBNP, and Troponin I—which indicated a susceptibility to cardiotoxicity. The gut bacteria profile in these patients was comparable to those found in patients with heart failure. Though common, when populations of Bacteroidaceae are dysregulated, they can cause infections in other areas of the body and drive inflammation.
Conclusions
The study was part of a wider project called CARDIOCARE, which will allow the researchers to expand their analysis to a larger group of 600 female patients to confirm their findings.
“While further research is needed, it does give us the tantalizing hope that tailored probiotics could play a role in protecting patients against the harmful effects of cancer treatment in [the] future,” Dr. Antoniades concluded.
Disclosure: The research in this study was supported through CARDIOCARE. For full disclosures of the study authors, visit esc365.escardio.org.
