Blood pressure medication combined with chemotherapy could reduce spread in triple negative breast cancer (Beta blockers with anthracycline chemo)

A new international study has, for the first time, identified that beta-blockers could significantly enhance the therapeutic effect of anthracycline chemotherapy in triple negative breast cancer (TNBC) by reducing metastasis.

Anthracyclines are a class of drugs used in chemotherapy to treat many cancers, including TNBC.

Researchers have previously shown in a clinical trial that beta-blockers (most commonly used to manage blood pressure) are linked with less cancer spread. However, until now, it was unclear how beta-blockers would interact with common cancer treatments.

The team used mouse models of cancer and analyzed large-scale patient clinical data, in collaboration with the Cancer Registry of Norway, to discover that anthracycline chemotherapy on its own, in the absence of a beta-blocker, induces nerve growth in tumors.

However, adding a beta-blocker to chemotherapy inhibited nerve fiber activity in tumors and stopped the cancer from coming back after treatment.

Dr. Aeson Chang, said the findings reveal an unanticipated insight into why chemotherapy treatment does not always work as it should.

"We set out to build on previous studies that have shown beta-blockers can halt the stress response experienced by cancer patients at the time of diagnosis and stop the cancer from spreading.

In this new study, not only did we discover the biological effect of beta-blockers when used alongside anthracycline chemotherapy, we also discovered why they are effective," said Dr. Chang.

"In mouse models of TNBC, we found that anthracycline chemotherapy was able to increase sympathetic nerve fiber activity in tumors. Activation of these stress neurons can help tumor cells spread and, fortunately, we found that beta-blockers could stop this effect. Our hope is that this exciting discovery will pave the way for further research and, ultimately, lead to improved outcomes for patients."

It would be worth having your doctor change your heart/ blood pressure medicine to a beta blocker, if dealing with this form of chemo.

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2 posted on 05/01/2023 8:53:09 PM PDT by ConservativeMind (Trump: Befuddling Democrats, Republicans, and the Media for the benefit of the US and all mankind.)

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