Drugs used to treat high blood pressure dramatically cut the risk of women dying from breast cancer, claim British researchers. Patients already taking beta blockers when diagnosed with the disease were 71 per cent less at risk of the cancer spreading and killing them, according to a pilot study. If the findings are confirmed in large trials, the treatment could potentially save thousands of lives. It could also lead to older people being given the medication in low doses to prevent a range of cancers.
Beta blockers such as propranolol and atenolol have been prescribed for decades, mainly for hypertension - the medical term for high blood pressure - as well as anxiety, migraine and other disorders. It is estimated that two million Britons take the drugs regularly. They act against stress hormones, and the latest study suggests they have to be taken for long periods to build up in the body to be effective against the spread of cancer.
Researchers at Nottingham University carried out the first study of its type into the anti-cancer properties of beta blockers. They looked at 466 patients diagnosed with breast cancer between 1987 and 1997 who were followed up for at least ten years. It found 43 women had been taking beta blockers for hypertension for at least a year before they were diagnosed. They were 57 per cent less likely to suffer spread of the disease, and 71 per cent less at risk of dying from it, compared with the rest of the women in the study. (Daily Mail)
