Pancreatic cancer remains extremely difficult to treat, with only about 11% of patients surviving five years past diagnosis. But new research suggests that common anti-hypertension medications might significantly improve those survival rates.
The investigators — led by biostatistician Scott W. Keith, PhD, and population health professor Vittorio Maio, PharmD — used data on 3.7 million adults in Italy to perform the largest retrospective study of anti-hypertensive drugs’ impact on pancreatic cancer survival. “The associations we found in our results suggest that a randomized clinical trial is warranted,” says Dr. Keith, “especially because these are inexpensive therapeutics with relatively few side effects.”
In their study, the team constructed statistical models to predict and compare mortality risks for pancreatic cancer patients who had been prescribed either of two common types of blood-pressure medications — angiotensin receptor blockers (ARBs) or angiotensin-converting enzyme (ACE) inhibitors — versus patients who had not been prescribed those medications. These medications interact with the angiotensin system, which is normally responsible for narrowing blood vessels but has also been shown to interact with cancer-growth pathways.
The study found that patients prescribed ARBs after their pancreatic cancer diagnosis had a 20% lower mortality risk; and those prescribed ACE inhibitors had a 13% lower mortality risk within three years after diagnosis.
“We can’t reliably predict how long these medications might extend survival,” says Dr. Maio. “We urge academic, advocacy and pharmaceutical organizations to establish a collaborative, well-resourced prospective study to determine the potential benefits of ARBs and ACE inhibitors for pancreatic cancer patients.”
