Protein can protect the heart from damage following cancer treatment

Reviewed by Emily Henderson, B.Sc.Dec 13 2021

Cancer treatment can be tough on the body, but for the patient to survive the cancer, it's often necessary to go through with the treatment anyway.

Some medications are effective against cancer, but one serious possible side effect is that they may trigger heart damage afterwards.

There's currently no method to reduce the risk of this side effect. But that may soon no longer be the case.

We've observed that the NOR-1 protein can provide broad protection against heart damage following cancer treatment."

Morten Høydal, Researcher, Norwegian University of Science and Technology's (NTNU) Department of Circulation and Imaging

He also heads the Group of Cellular and Molecular Cardiology (GMC).  Their findings have been published in Biomedicines

Protein is triggered by exercise

One of the cancer treatment methods that can increase the risk of heart damage is the cytotoxic drug Doxorubicin, or DOX. This cytotoxin can also attack healthy cells, including those in the heart, which in turn can have very negative effects.

However, the protein "Neuron-derived orphan receptor 1," or NOR-1, has previously been shown to be effective when a patient suffers from hypoxia, or oxygen deficiency. Administering NOR-1 can help ensure that more cells survive.

This protein is found naturally in the body and is triggered when we exercise. Exercise is important to reduce the risk of heart problems, but now it appears that directly supplying the protein can also reduce heart risk – at least in the laboratory.

Tested on cells

The research group used various methods to test the effect of the protein on human cells under laboratory conditions."These experiments showed that fewer cells died and instead stayed healthy," says Høydal.

NOR-1 appears to counteract some of the negative effects on cells that DOX can lead to, including in the heart."Our findings show that NOR-1 can protect the heart after this type of cancer treatment, says Høydal.

For the time being, this is still in the laboratory stage, and further research is needed. But the results so far are promising.