Cardiotoxicity of small-molecule kinase inhibitors in cancer therapy.

Cancer is one of the leading causes of death worldwide. Recent advances in precision oncology have enabled many specific cancer patient populations to respond well and achieve longer survival with small-molecule kinase inhibitors, which have become a new therapeutic strategy for tumors.

Since 2001, the Food and Drug Administration has approved 108 and 63 new anticancer drugs for treating solid tumors and hematological malignancies, respectively, 89 of which belong to the large group of small-molecule kinase inhibitors (SMKIs).

Compared to conventional chemotherapeutic agents such as cyclophosphamide, doxorubicin, and 5-FU, SMKIs offer better efficacy with fewer toxic side effects.

Nevertheless, with the development of more novel SMKIs and their wider clinical application to a larger population of cancer patients, variable degrees of cardiotoxic adverse events have emerged for some SMKIs during cancer therapy.

This review comprehensively summarizes the most updated progress in the cardiotoxicity of SMKIs in cancer therapy and discusses the new findings and mechanisms, which will provide emerging strategies for the prevention of cardiotoxicity caused by small molecule targeted drugs and the design of the next generation of low cardiotoxicity targeted drugs.