Trastuzumab-Mediated Cardiotoxicity and Its Preventive Intervention by Zingerone through Antioxidant and Inflammatory Pathway in Rats

Trastuzumab (TZB) is a new medicine, used to treat cancers of the breast and stomach. However, the cardiotoxic potential of this drug edges out its clinical advantages. The present study was designed to find out the effect of zingerone against trastuzumab-mediated cardiotoxicity in rats. In this study, five groups of rats with eight animals in each group were used. Group 1 was treated with normal saline, as a normal control (NC); Group 2 was treated with TZB (6 mg/kg/week-for five weeks) intraperitoneally as a toxic control. Groups 3 and 4 were pre-treated with zingerone (50 and 100 mg/kg, as per their body weight orally) along with five doses of TZB for five weeks, and Group 5 was treated with zingerone (100 mg/kg, body weight orally) as a control. TZB treatment showed cardiotoxicity as evidenced by increased levels of aspartate aminotransferase (AST), creatine kinase-myocardial band (CK-MB), lactate dehydrogenase (LDH), and lipid peroxidation (LPO) and decreased level of glutathione (GSH), and antioxidant enzymes such as glutathione peroxidase (GPx), glutathione reductase (GR), glutathione-s- transferase (GST), catalase (CAT), and superoxide dismutase (SOD) activities. Zingerone pre-treatment significantly decreased the levels of AST, CK-MB, LDH, and LPO and increased GSH and antioxidant enzymes content toward their normal level. In the TZB-alone administered group, inflammatory cytokines (IL-2 and TNF-α) levels were also elevated. Pre-treatment with zingerone restored the level of IL-2 and TNF-α toward normal level. The current findings undoubtedly demonstrated zingerone's cardioprotective nature against TZB-mediated cardiotoxicity in rats with the evidence of histopathological recall.