MicroRNA-34a-5p as a promising early circulating preclinical biomarker of doxorubicin-induced chronic cardiotoxicity

Cardiotoxicity is a serious adverse effect of an anticancer drug, doxorubicin (DOX), which can occur within a year or decades after completion of therapy. The present study was designed to address a knowledge gap concerning a lack of circulating biomarkers capable of predicting the risk of cardiotoxicity induced by DOX. Profiling of 2083 microRNAs (miRNAs) in mouse plasma revealed 81 differentially expressed miRNAs 1 week after 6, 9, 12, 18, or 24 mg/kg total cumulative DOX doses (early-onset model) or saline (SAL). Among these, the expression of seven miRNAs was altered prior to the onset of myocardial injury at 12 mg/kg and higher cumulative doses. The expression of only miR-34a-5p was significantly (false discovery rate [FDR] < 0.1) elevated at all total cumulative doses compared with concurrent SAL-treated controls and showed a statistically significant dose-related response. The trend in plasma miR-34a-5p expression levels during DOX exposures also correlated with a significant dose-related increase in cardiac expression of miR-34a-5p in these mice. Administration of a cardioprotective drug, dexrazoxane, to mice before DOX treatment, significantly mitigated miR-34a-5p expression in both plasma and heart in conjunction with attenuation of cardiac pathology. This association between plasma and heart may suggest miR-34a-5p as a potential early circulating marker of early-onset DOX cardiotoxicity. In addition, higher expression of miR-34a-5p (FDR < 0.1) in plasma and heart compared with SAL-treated controls 24 weeks after 24 mg/kg total cumulative DOX dose, when cardiac function was altered in our recently established delayed-onset cardiotoxicity model, indicated its potential as an early biomarker of delayed-onset cardiotoxicity.