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Senior Citizen Health & Medicine
Pancreatic Cancer Growth and Spread May Be Halted by
Blood Pressure Drugs
Currently, only 5% of patients live a year after
diagnosis
December 8, 2006 – The growth and spread of
pancreatic cancer, the fourth leading cancer killer in the U.S., may be
possible with the use of two common types of blood pressure medications
- ACE inhibitors and AT1R blockers. Only five percent of pancreatic
cancer patients live at least one year after diagnosis and more than
32,000 Americans are expected to die from this cancer this year.
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Pancreatic Cancer Surgery Can Help Those Even Over
80
More than 70% with
pancreatic cancer are seniors over age 65
June 13, 2006 – A new study of pancreatic surgery
during the last 35 years at Johns Hopkins University in Baltimore has
found that contrary to what many both in and out of medicine may
believe, major pancreatic cancer surgery can successfully be performed
on patients in their 80s, 90s and even older. It is welcome news for
senior citizens, aware that 70 percent of those found with this deadly cancer
are over age 65.
Read more...
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Health & Medicine |
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Researchers at the Kimmel Cancer Center at Thomas
Jefferson University in Philadelphia have shown in laboratory studies
that these pressure-lowering drugs may help reduce the development of
tumor-feeding blood vessels, a process called angiogenesis.
Such drugs, they say, may become part of a new
strategy to control the growth and spread of cancer.
According to Hwyda Arafat, M.D., Ph.D., assistant
professor of surgery at Jefferson Medical College, previous studies have
linked a lower cancer incidence with the inhibition of the pancreas
hormone angiotensin II (Ang II) by either ACE (Angiotensin I converting
enzyme) inhibitors or AT1R (Ang II type 1 receptor) blockers.
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. ACE is the enzyme that converts Ang I to Ang II.
Dr. Arafat and her co-workers examined the protein
of both invasive pancreatic cancer and normal pancreatic tissue,
analyzing the expression of ACE and AT1R in relation to VEGF. They also
looked at the effects of blood pressure drugs captopril, an ACE
inhibitor, and losartan, an AT1R blocker, on VEGF production in cancer
cell lines.
They found that protein levels in ACE and AT1R were
significantly higher in 75 percent of the cancer tissue examined. VEGF
expression was higher in cases where there was strong ACE and AT1R
levels. In the test tube, Ang II significantly enhanced VEGF production
in AT1R-positive cells. Captopril and losartan both blocked this effect.
"Our data show for the first time that both ACE and
AT1R are functionally expressed in pancreatic ductal adenocarcinoma and
suggest their involvement in tumor angiogenesis," Dr. Arafat says. She
presents her results December 5, 2006 at the Southern Surgical
Association meeting in Palm Beach, FL.
"High VEGF levels correspond with lymph node
metastasis and worse prognosis in many cancers," Dr. Arafat says. "High
levels of angiotensin II might mean high levels of VEGF and pancreatic
cancer. We have a treatment to block it."
"We are continuing to analyze how angiotensin
affects VEGF, and the signaling pathways involved," she says. Her team
is looking at the effect of angiotensin on cell proliferation and
programmed cell death, and would like to develop an animal model.
"Patients have chemotherapy and radiation sometimes
before surgery," she says. "I would imagine this would be useful either
for unresectable tumors or after surgical removal of the pancreatic
cancer. It might be used in maintenance."
"These are well tested, safe drugs," Dr. Arafat
notes, "so the translation of our work from the animal model to the
clinical trial can be fast. This is very promising."
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