Evaluation of lecithinized human recombinant super oxide dismutase as cardioprotectant in anthracycline-treated breast cancer patients.

Aim: Anthracycline-induced cardiotoxicity is (partly) mediated by free radical overload. A randomized study was performed in breast cancer patients to investigate whether free radical scavenger super oxide dismutase (SOD) protects against anthracycline-induced cardiotoxicity as measured by changes in echo, electrocardiography and an array of biomarkers.

Method And Results: Eighty female, chemotherapy-naïve breast cancer patients (median age 49, range 24-67 years) scheduled for four or five courses of adjuvant 3 weekly doxorubicin plus cyclophosphamide (AC) chemotherapy, were randomly assigned to receive 80 mg PC-SOD (human recombinant SOD bound to lecithin) or placebo, administered intravenously (i.