Blood Pressure Drug May Help Chemotherapy Treatments in Cancer Patients

A new blood pressure drug could help in chemotherapy treatments for cancer patients, according to a recent study.

When researchers performed tests on mice with both breast and pancreatic cancer, they found that the drug losartan (brand name Cozaar) boosted the delivery of the chemotherapy drugs by opening up collapsed blood vessels found in solid tumors.

Findings from the Massachusetts General Hospital team show that a clinical trial launched for the drug can improve chemotherapy treatment results in human patients with pancreatic cancer.

Losartan belongs to a group of blood pressure drugs called angiotensin inhibitors that have been used for over a decade in patients and could be repurposed for cancer treatment, according to lead study author Rakesh Jain, the director of the Steele Laboratory for Tumor Biology at MGH.

"Unlike anti-angiogenesis drugs, which improve tumor blood flow by repairing the abnormal structure of tumor blood vessels, angiotensin inhibitors open up those vessels by releasing physical forces that are applied to tumor blood vessels when the gel-like matrix surrounding them expands with tumor growth," Jain explained, via a press release.

The researchers found that in combination with other chemotherapy drugs, the mice showed improved blood flow surrounding the tumors, which allowed the chemotherapy drugs to be more easily delivered to various targeted areas. The mice given the treatment survived longer than mice with just chemotherapy alone, according to the study.

However, researchers note that studies involving animals do not always produce the same results in humans.

More information regarding the study can be found via the journal Nature Communications.