Cisplatin, environmental metals, and cardiovascular disease: an urgent need to understand underlying mechanisms

Significantly increased risks of cardiovascular disease occur in testicular cancer survivors given cisplatin-based chemotherapy. The postulated mechanism of platinum-based chemotherapy’s vascular toxicity has been thought secondary to its different early- and late- effects on vascular injury, endothelial dysfunction, and induction of a hypercoagulable state. We highlight for the first time the similarities between platinum-associated vascular adverse events and the vascular toxicity associated with other xenobiotic-metal contaminants. The vascular toxicity seen in large epidemiologic studies of testicular cancer survivors may in part be similar and mechanistically linked to the risk seen in environmental heavy metal contaminants linked to cardiovascular disease. Future research should be directed to better understand the magnitude of the adverse cardiovascular effects of platinum and to elucidate the underlying mechanisms of action.