]> 2026-04-12T02:25:47-07:00 Angiotensin-II Receptor Blockers (ARB) 0 en Angiotensin-II Receptor Blockers, primarily used for high blood pressure, have been repurposed for cancer studies, specifically for reducing swelling around brain tumors and lowering the need for steroids. Common side effects can include dizziness, low blood pressure, and alterations in kidney function. However, these are generally mild and manageable, hence the relatively low toxicity rating. While these drugs have shown potential in improving some symptoms, their impact on tumor growth or survival rate is still under investigation. 2025-01-18T08:23:12Z 2460693.8494444 Angiotensin-II Receptor Blockers (ARB) 0 [2,"smw-datavalue-wikipage-property-invalid-title","Has original text","Angiotensin-II is a peptide hormone produced from angiotensin-I by the action of\nangiotensin converting enzyme (ACE). The main effect of angiotensin-II is\nvasoconstriction and a resulting increase in blood pressure. Therefore ACE inhibitors and\nangiotensin-II receptor blockers are used as anti-hypertensive drugs, especially in heart\ndisease. More recently these drugs have been repurposed for use in cancer studies.\n\nA retrospective study published in 2012 (328) examined the steroid-sparing effects of\nangiotensin-II inhibitors, incuding ACE inhibitors and angiotensin-II receptor blockers\n(ARBs). Of a total cohort of 87 newly diagnosed glioblastoma patients, 29 patients were\nidentified who were treated prior to radiation for high blood pressure. 18 of these were\ntreated with either ACE inhibitors (n=3) or angiotensin-II receptor blockers (n=15).\nAlthough no survival benefit with angiotensin-II inhibitors was observed in this study, the\n18 patients treated with an angiotensin-II inhibitor required half the steroid dose\ncompared to all other patients in the study (mean prednisolone dose of 29 mg per day\nversus 60 mg per day), and this difference remained significant in multivariate analysis\n(p=0.003).\n\nA later retrospective study by the same group published in January 2016 (329) focused\nspecifically on the angiotensin-II receptor blocker class of drugs and their effects on\nvasogenic edema in glioblastoma patients. In this study, 11 patients taking angiotensin-II\nreceptor blockers (ARBs) for hypertension were compared with 11 matched patients with\nsimilar age, tumor size, and tumor location, but not taking medication for hypertension.\nThere was a significant 66% reduction in the FLAIR ratio in the patients taking ARBs\ncompared to the matched patients not taking ARBs. As FLAIR signal can represent either\ntumor infiltration or vasogenic edema, the nature of the peri-tumoral FLAIR signal was\nassessed with apparent diffusion coeffient (ADC) mapping. Nine evaluable patients taking\n28\n\nARBs had a 34% reduction in ADC ratios compared to their matched controls not taking\nARBs, confirming the ability of this class of drugs to reduce peri-tumoral edema.\n\nA 2015 study, also by the group in France, suggests angiotensin-II inhibitors (including\nACE inhibitors and ARBs) may also lead to superior survival outcomes (330). In this\nstudy, 81 GBM patients were included. Seven of these patients were taking ACE inhibitors\nand 19 were taking ARBs for hypertension. The 26 patients using angiotensin-II\ninhibitors had increased progression-free and overall survival (8.7 and 16.7 months)\ncompared to the patients not taking these drugs (7.2 and 12.9 months). Use of\nangiotensin-II inhibitors was a significant positive prognostic factor for both PFS and OS\nin multivariate analysis.\n\nA randomized phase 3 trial in France (NCT01805453) has recently completed\nrecruitment, and is testing the influence of losartan (an ARB) versus placebo on the\nsteroid dose required to control edema on the last day of radiotherapy. Another drug in\nthis class, telmisartan, has superior penetration into the central nervous system (331) and\nmay therefore be a better choice.\n\nSee Chapter 13 for a discussion of Angiotensin system inhibitors plus Avastin"] Angiotensin-II Receptor Blockers (ARB)# ERRa3f62c6665776505f0db7c26c19aebf1 Has treatment name 102 en Has treatment name