Doxorubicin is a lifesaving breast cancer treatment. However, approximately 3-20% of women who receive doxorubicin treatment experience some damage to their heart muscle. Coenzyme Q10 is a fat soluble antioxidant dietary supplement that may protect against this heart damage during doxorubicin treatment. It is unknown how Coenzyme Q10 may interact with doxorubicin. This study will assess the effects of Coenzyme Q10 on doxorubicin metabolism.~This is a phase I randomized, placebo-controlled, cross-over pharmacokinetic and dose-finding study to assess the safety of CoQ10 during doxorubicin treatment for breast cancer. Safety will be assessed by measuring 1) intra-patient differences in doxorubicin and its active metabolites, with and without CoQ10, and 2) adverse events. The investigator hypothesizes that CoQ10 administration during doxorubicin treatment is safe and will not affect doxorubicin active metabolites. Using three dose levels of CoQ10, the maximum tolerated dose (MTD) will be determined by assessing change in doxorubicin concentration (area under the curve (AUC), change in peak concentration levels (Cmax)), and adverse events.
This research study hopes to examine the effects of Coenzyme Q10 on doxorubicin (Adriamycin) metabolism during breast cancer treatment.