Patients who were prescribed an inexpensive blood pressure medication after their diagnosis of melanoma had an 80% reduction in recurrence risk versus those prescribed a placebo. This is a dramatic result, and one that will need to be confirmed in larger studies before adoption of the off-label use of propranolol will be recommended in this setting. Many preclinical and retrospective human studies have found that blocking stress hormone receptors reduces the risk of cancer recurrence and metastases. This study is one of the first prospective clinical trials to report similar findings.
Here’s the link to the clinical trial information for more details of this study:
One of my favorite reviews on the possibility of using propranolol as an anticancer therapy is the following.
The authors conclude:
“There is a significant volume of data from in vitro, animal and human studies to indicate that there are multiple clinically relevant anti-cancer effects associated with propranolol. This data has been summarised and presented to make the case that propranolol is a very strong candidate for repurposing as an anticancer agent. In particular the potential for synergistic interactions with other drugs has been outlined, including repurposed COX-2/PGE2 inhibitors and a range of chemotherapeutics at both metronomic and standard dosing. The anti-metastatic properties of propranolol may be particularly valuable to exploit during surgical intervention, and a number of possible combinations with other agents is discussed in this setting.”
Combining propranolol with an NSAID may further reduce recurrence rates based on promising findings from this clinical trial.
