Vascular Endothelial Inflammation and Dysfunction in Pediatric Long-term Cancer Survivors

Survivors of childhood cancer have an increased risk of death from cardiovascular disease
due to both the therapies they received while undergoing treatment and diet and lifestyle
factors. The nature of cardiovascular risk and the interaction between treatment affects and
cardiovascular risk factors is unknown. We propose to study vascular inflammatory markers as
well as measure of blood vessel stiffness (both of which are predictive of early heart
disease) in 100 pediatric cancer survivors and 100 control children. Characterization of
vascular inflammation and stiffness in long-term survivors will allow for the development of
future interventions to decrease inflammation through both pharmacologic and lifestyle
modifications.