Certain gene variations may increase the risk that survivors of childhood cancer will develop congestive heart failure as a late drug complication, according to a presentation at the annual meeting of the American Society of Clinical Oncology.

Richard Aplenc, MD, a pediatric oncologist at The Children’s Hospital of Philadelphia, led the research, drawing on data from the Childhood Cancer Survivor Study, a long-term national study sponsored by the National Cancer Institute.

The researchers studied two groups of childhood cancer survivors, all of whom had been treated with anthracyclines. The study compared 47 patients with congestive heart failure to a control group of 195 patients without heart failure. The researchers investigated 10 polymorphisms in seven genes identified as having a role in biological responses to anthracyclines.

“We found that polymorphisms in the GSTP gene significantly increased a patient’s risk for congestive heart failure after treatment with anthracyclines,” said Aplenc. One polymorphism increased risk by five times; another variant was linked to a three-fold increase in risk.

The research group chose particular genes as candidates for study because those genes carry the codes for enzymes involved in metabolizing anthracyclines and the reactive oxygen molecules that anthracyclines produce.

“Further study needs to be done, using larger numbers of patients, to determine if these results hold up,” said Aplenc. “We hope these findings will provide a scientific foundation for safer, more effective cancer treatments for children.”