The cardiovascular effects of gonadotropinreleasing hormone antagonists in men with prostate cancer

• Published in: European heart journal. Cardiovascular pharmacotherapy Vol. 8; no. 3; p. 253
• Main Authors: Cirne, Filipe, Aghel, Nazanin, Petropoulos, Jo-Anne, Klotz, Laurence, Lenihan, Daniel J, Saad, Fred, Pinthus, Jehonathan, Leong, Darryl P
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: Oxford University Press 01-05-2022
• Subjects: Antagonists; Canada; Cancer; Care and treatment; Comparative analysis; Estrogen; Gonadotropin; Mortality; Oncology, Experimental; Pituitary hormones; Prostate cancer; Testosterone; Canada
• ISSN: 2055-6837
• DOI: 10.1093/ehjcvp/pvab005

Aims The aim of this study was to determine whether gonadotropin-releasing hormone (GnRH) antagonists (an emerging class of drugs to suppress testosterone synthesis in the treatment of prostate cancer) cause less adverse cardiovascular events than the more commonly use GnRH agonists. Methods and results We conducted a systematic review to identify all randomized, controlled trials in which a GnRH antagonist was compared with a GnRH agonist in men with prostate cancer. We identified 10 eligible studies including two different GnRH antagonists, degarelix (n = 1681) and relugolix (n = 734), which were compared with the GnRH agonists, leuprolide (n = 714) and goserelin (n = 600). The pooled risk ratios (95% confidence intervals) among GnRH antagonist recipients for adverse cardiovascular events, cardiovascular death, and all-cause mortality were 0.57 (0.39-0.81); 0.49 (0.25-0.96); and 0.48 (0.28-0.83), respectively. Important limitations of the included trials were their short duration of follow-up, unblinded study design and (in most of the studies) the identification of adverse cardiovascular events through safety reporting mechanisms rather than as a pre-specified outcome. There was no evidence of heterogeneity of findings among the studies. Conclusions There is consistent but methodologically limited data to suggest that GnRH antagonists--a relatively new class of androgen deprivation therapy for prostate cancer--cause significantly less cardiovascular adverse effects than the more frequently used GnRH agonists. Keywords Prostate cancer * Androgen deprivation therapy * GnRH agonist * GnRH antagonist * Cardiovascular