Current Insights into Cellular Senescence and Myotoxicity Induced by Doxorubicin: The Role of Exercise and Growth Factors

Doxorubicin is an anti-neoplasmic drug that prevents DNA replication but induces senescence and cellular toxicity. Intensive research has focused on strategies to alleviate the doxorubicin-induced skeletal myotoxicity. The aim of the present review is to critically discuss the relevant scientific evidence about the role of exercise and growth factor administration and offer novel insights about newly developed-tools to combat the adverse drug reactions of doxorubicin treatment on skeletal muscle. In the first part, we discuss current data and mechanistic details on the impact of doxorubicin on skeletal myotoxicity. We next review key aspects about the role of regular exercise and the impact of growth factors, administered either pharmacologically or via genetic interventions. Future strategies such as combination of exercise and growth factor administration remain to be established to combat the pharmacologically-induced myotoxicity.