Doxorubicin (DOX) is a red-colored anticancer drug that carries serious side effects for the heart, including cardiac muscle deterioration (cardiomyopathy) and scar tissue accumulation in the heart (fibrosis). These cardio-toxic effects are due to inhibition by DOX of mitochondrial biogenesis, a term used to describe cellular energy generation. In a new study by Claude Piantadosi and his colleagues at Duke University Medical Center, mitochondrial biogenesis was recovered in DOX-treated rodents by either inhalation of carbon monoxide (CO) or overexpression of the protein HO-1.
