Angiotensin inhibitors inhibit pancreatic, breast, prostate, colon, gastric, bladder cancers

Angiotensin inhibitors inhibit pancreatic, breast, prostate, colon, gastric, bladder cancers

And maybe more cancers than that. Angiotensin inhibitors are a popular class
of high blood pressure medications. Here's the Pubmed abstracts
demonstrating all the cancers they work against, followed by an article that
just appeared today (one of the abstracts (pancreatic cancer) is by the same
person referred to in the article). It appears angiotensin inhibitors may be
useful against most, if not all, cancers.

prostate cancer
* w w w .ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/17440964?ordinalpos=7&itool=EntrezSystem2
.PEntrez.Pubmed.Pubmed_ResultsPanel.Pubmed_RVDocSum

gastric cancer
* w w w .ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/17486447?ordinalpos=5&itool=EntrezSystem2
.PEntrez.Pubmed.Pubmed_ResultsPanel.Pubmed_RVDocSum

bladder cancer
* w w w .ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/17506771?ordinalpos=4&itool=EntrezSystem2
.PEntrez.Pubmed.Pubmed_ResultsPanel.Pubmed_RVDocSum

pancreatic cancer
* w w w .ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/18026817?ordinalpos=3&itool=EntrezSystem2
.PEntrez.Pubmed.Pubmed_ResultsPanel.Pubmed_RVDocSum

breast cancer
* w w w .ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/18401528?ordinalpos=1&itool=EntrezSystem2
.PEntrez.Pubmed.Pubmed_ResultsPanel.Pubmed_RVDocSum

colon cancer
* w w w .ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/17376054?ordinalpos=8&itool=EntrezSystem2
.PEntrez.Pubmed.Pubmed_ResultsPanel.Pubmed_RVDocSum


* w w w .eurekalert.org/bysubject/medicine.php

Public release date: 14-Apr-2008
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Contact: Steve Benowitz
steven.benowitz@jefferson.edu
215-955-5291
Thomas Jefferson University

Blood pressure drugs halt pancreatic cancer cell growth, Jefferson
researchers find

(PHILADELPHIA) Researchers at the Kimmel Cancer Center at Thomas Jefferson
University in Philadelphia are inching closer to understanding how common
blood pressure medications might help prevent the spread of pancreatic
cancer. They have found in the laboratory that one type of blood
pressure-lowering drug called an angiotensin receptor blocker inhibits
pancreatic cancer cell growth and causes cell death.

In earlier work in the laboratory, Hwyda Arafat, M.D., Ph.D., associate
professor of Surgery at Jefferson Medical College, and her team showed that
angiotensin receptor blockers may help reduce the development of
tumor-feeding blood vessels, a process called angiogenesis. Other studies
have linked a lower incidence of cancer with the use of angiotensin blocking
therapies. Such drugs, she says, may become part of a novel strategy to
control the growth and spread of cancer.

One of these drugs - AT1R (Ang II type 1 receptor) blockers - inhibit the
function of the hormone angiotensin II (Ang II) in the pancreas. The
receptor is expressed in pancreatic cancer cells. Ang II increases the
production of VEGF, a vascular factor that promotes blood vessel growth in a
number of cancers. High VEGF levels have been correlated with poor cancer
prognosis and early recurrence after surgery. Dr. Arafat's research team has
shown that AngII indirectly causes VEGF expression by increasing AT1R
expression.

Dr. Arafat's group explored the effects of blocking AT1R on the pancreatic
cancer cell reproductive cycle and programmed cell death, or apoptosis, and
the mechanisms involved. It found that blocking AT1R inhibited pancreatic
cancer cell growth and promoted cell death. "This happens through inducing
the activity of the gene p53, which controls programmed cell death, and also
by inhibiting anti-cell death pathways such as those involving the gene
bcl-2." The team reports its findings April 14, 2008 at the annual meeting
of the American Association for Cancer Research in San Diego.

The researchers also found that blocking AT1R affects p21, a gene that
regulates the cell cycle. "We found that blocking this receptor can cause
cell cycle arrest," she notes.

"This is really exciting because the role of this receptor has never been
known," Dr. Arafat says. "It's never been connected to cell division or
apoptosis. We're also now further exploring the mechanisms involved. The
exciting thing is that this receptor already has so many available
pharmaceutical blockers on the market." Ultimately, the group hopes to be
able to test these agents in human trials, she says.


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