PostDoctoral Research
National and Kapodistrian University of Athens, Greece
My name is Dr. Panagiotis Efentakis and I am a Postdoctoral Researcher in Laboratory of Pharmacology, Faculty of Pharmacy in the National and Kapodistrian University of Athens. My primary research is focused on Cardiovascular Pharmacology and specifically on Cardio-oncology of anti-cancer therapies and on Acute Myocardial Infarction. My research on Cardio-oncology of anti-cancer therapies has focused on the Cardiovascular Adverse Events (AEs) of the proteasome inhibitor Carfilzomib, indicated for Relapsed/Refractory Multiple myeloma. I and my collaborators, under the supervision of Prof. Evangelos Terpos and Prof. Ioanna Andreadou, have established for the first time a translational in vivo model of Carfilzomib-induced Cardiotoxicity (PMID: 30482794), which successfully mimicked the clinical observations. Subsequently we have shed novel light on Carfilzomib-induced Renal and Vascular AEs, providing novel data on the pathomechanism of the clinically observed AEs. We have also expanded our in vivo models of Carfilzomib-induced cardiotoxicity, incorporating cardiovascular comorbidities (such as aging, diabetes mellitus, hypercholesterolemia and heart failure with reduced injection fraction) into the investigated pathology, identifying novel mechanisms and hidden toxicities of Carfilzomib-induced cardiotoxicity in presence of Cardiovascular risk factors. Lately my scientific interest has also been focused on Immune Checkpoint Inhibitors cardiotoxicity and has extended to additional anti-cancer drugs with remarkable anti-cancer potential. My scientific research of Carfilzomib-induced AEs has led to 5 peer-reviewed publications, in 4 of which I have first authorship, and numerous peer-reviewed abstract presentations in International Myeloma Society (IMS) Congress, European Society of Cardiology (ESC) Congress, European Society of Medical Oncology (ESMO) Congress and national Hellenic Congresses, in which I was awarded twice for outstanding research with Arkagathos-Gouttas award by the Hellenic Society of Haematology.