Research progress of sodium-glucose cotransporter 2 inhibitor in chemotherapy-induced cardiotoxicity

The introduction of chemotherapy drugs has greatly changed the treatment of cancers, among which anthracyclines are the most commonly used. Although these drugs have been proved to be very effective for various types of cancers, they might cause severe clinical side effects, including neurotoxicity, nephrotoxicity and cardiotoxicity. Among these side effects, chemotherapy-related cardiovascular toxicity (CTR-CVT) is the main cause of death, therefore novel and effective treatment schemes are needed. Sodium-glucose cotransporter 2 inhibitor (SGLT2i) is a new type of hypoglycemic drug, which has been proved to be effective in reducing cardiovascular events, especially heart failure in diabetic patients and non-diabetic patients. An interesting research field involving exploring the potential application of SGLT2i in cardiac oncology is on the rise. Evidences from basic and observational studies show that SGLT2i may play a role in preventing CTR-CVT. In this paper, the potential mechanism and basic and clinical data of SGLT2i as a developing CTR-CVT treatment are reviewed.