Scientists from the Jagiellonian University Collegium Medicum in Krakow under the supervision of Prof. Tomasz Guzik and Prof. Tomasz Grodzicki described how chemotherapy for breast cancer can damage blood vessels, explaining why women who survive breast cancer die mainly of cardiovascular disease.

According to the Jagiellonian University, while examining the blood vessels of women who had undergone chemotherapy before the mastectomy operation, scientists observed deep signs of dysfunction of the vascular endothelium being an inner layer of blood vessels, which is a key regulator of blood vessel health.

The researchers from the Jagiellonian University determined that docetaxel, one of the key drugs used in the chemotherapy of breast cancer, is responsible for this dysfunction. The vascular dysfunction in model studies was also accompanied by an increase in blood pressure.

The results of the research of Krakow scientists have been published in the latest issue of “Journal of Clinical Investigation”:
https://www.jci.org/articles/view/149117