Patients with advanced kidney cancer lived an average of seven months longer if they were taking a common type of high blood pressure medication during treatment, according to an analysis of clinical trials data.
Patients on angiotensin system inhibitors, including angiotensin-converting-enzyme inhibitor and angiotensin system blockers, survived an average of 26.68 months compared with 17.05 months in those who did not receive the drugs.
The study results will be presented Feb. 1 at the 2014 ASCO Genitourinary Cancers Symposium in San Francisco.
The greatest survival benefits were seen in patients who were taking ASIs while being treated with drugs that targeted the vascular endothelial growth factor pathway, according to the study.
Researchers used a database of results of phase II and III clinical trials sponsored by Pfizer Inc. The pooled data included 4,736 patients treated between 2003 and 2013 for metastatic kidney cancer. The patients were generally males, younger than 65, whose disease was considered intermediate-risk.
The majority were treated with the targeted anti-VEGF agents sunitinib, sorafenib, and axitinib. Others received temsirolimus, which inhibits the mTOR protein, and interferon, which stimulates the immune system to fight tumors. Survival gains were greatest in patients who took ASIs while in treatment with anti-VEGF drugs, compared with mTOR inhibitors or interferon, the analysis revealed.
“Though larger prospective studies are needed to further investigate this hypothesis, based on the results of this study, an ASI should be considered for patients with metastatic renal cell carcinoma who need an antihypertensive and do not have any contraindications that preclude their use, especially in patients receiving VEGF-targeted treatments,” said Rana McKay, a clinical oncology fellow at Dana-Farber Cancer Institute. She cautioned it is too early to recommend ASIs for kidney cancer patients who don’t need an antihypertension drug.
Toni Choueiri, clinical director of the Lank Center for Genitourinary Oncology at Dana-Farber and director of the kidney cancer center at Dana-Farber is senior author of the report. Other authors are from Rutgers University and Pfizer Oncology. The research was supported by Pfizer.
