Proteasome Inhibitors as a Potential Cause of Heart Failure

Abstract

Proteasome inhibitors have become an important drug class in the treatment of multiple myeloma. In addition to its role in myeloma cells, the proteasome plays a critical role in the myocardium, particularly in the context of cardiac stress. The growing awareness of the cardiovascular toxicity of proteasome inhibitors is emerging following the phase 3 trials and the transition into real-world practice. This article reviews the background to this problem and the incidence of the problem in phase 3 trials and subsequent phase 2 trials in new patient cohorts and discusses the strategy to detect and manage this emerging problem.

Keywords: Heart failure; Multiple myeloma; Myocardium; Proteasome inhibitors.