Practical guidelines for rigor and reproducibility in preclinical and clinical studies on cardioprotection

The potential for ischemic preconditioning to reduce infarct size was first recognized more than 30 years ago. Despite extension of the concept to ischemic postconditioning and remote ischemic conditioning and literally thousands of experimental studies in various species and models which identified a multitude of signaling steps, so far there is only a single and very recent study, which has unequivocally translated cardioprotection to improved clinical outcome as the primary endpoint in patients. Many potential reasons for this disappointing lack of clinical translation of cardioprotection have been proposed, including lack of rigor and reproducibility in preclinical studies, and poor design and conduct of clinical trials. There is, however, universal agreement that robust preclinical data are a mandatory prerequisite to initiate a meaningful clinical trial. In this context, it is disconcerting that the CAESAR consortium (Consortium for preclinicAl assESsment of cARdioprotective therapies) in a highly standardized multi-center approach of preclinical studies identified only ischemic preconditioning, but not nitrite or sildenafil, when given as adjunct to reperfusion, to reduce infarct size. However, ischemic preconditioning—due to its very nature—can only be used in elective interventions, and not in acute myocardial infarction. Therefore, better strategies to identify robust and reproducible strategies of cardioprotection, which can subsequently be tested in clinical trials must be developed. We refer to the recent guidelines for experimental models of myocardial ischemia and infarction, and aim to provide now practical guidelines to ensure rigor and reproducibility in preclinical and clinical studies on cardioprotection. In line with the above guideline, we define rigor as standardized state-of-the-art design, conduct and reporting of a study, which is then a prerequisite for reproducibility, i.e. replication of results by another laboratory when performing exactly the same experiment

Effect of Remote Ischaemic Conditioning in Oncology Patients Undergoing Chemotherapy: Rationale and Design of the ERIC‐ONC Study—A Single‐Center, Blinded, Randomized Controlled Trial

Cancer survival continues to improve, and thus cardiovascular consequences of chemotherapy are increasingly important determinants of long-term morbidity and mortality. Conventional strategies to protect the heart from chemotherapy have important hemodynamic or myelosuppressive side effects. Remote ischemic conditioning (RIC) using intermittent limb ischemia-reperfusion reduces myocardial injury in the setting of percutaneous coronary intervention. Anthracycline cardiotoxicity and ischemia-reperfusion injury share common biochemical pathways in cardiomyocytes. The potential for RIC as a novel treatment to reduce subclinical myocyte injury in chemotherapy has never been explored and will be investigated in the Effect of Remote Ischaemic Conditioning in Oncology (ERIC-ONC) trial (clinicaltrials.gov NCT 02471885). The ERIC-ONC trial is a single-center, blinded, randomized, sham-controlled study. We aim to recruit 128 adult oncology patients undergoing anthracycline-based chemotherapy treatment, randomized in a 1:1 ratio into 2 groups: (1) sham procedure or (2) RIC, comprising 4, 5-minute cycles of upper arm blood pressure cuff inflations and deflations, immediately before each cycle of chemotherapy. The primary outcome measure, defining cardiac injury, will be high-sensitivity troponin-T over 6 cycles of chemotherapy and 12 months follow-up. Secondary outcome measures will include clinical, electrical, structural, and biochemical endpoints comprising major adverse cardiovascular clinical events, incidence of cardiac arrhythmia over 14 days at cycle 5/6, echocardiographic ventricular function, N-terminal pro-brain natriuretic peptide levels at 3 months follow-up, and changes in mitochondrial DNA, micro-RNA, and proteomics after chemotherapy. The ERIC-ONC trial will determine the efficacy of RIC as a novel, noninvasive, nonpharmacological, low-cost cardioprotectant in cancer patients undergoing anthracycline-based chemotherapy