A medication that has long been used to treat high blood pressure could also help make an important class of cancer drugs much more effective, according to new research from Dartmouth Cancer Center (DCC). The study found that the FDA approved drug telmisartan significantly boosted the cancer killing activity of the targeted therapy olaparib, raising the possibility that more patients could benefit from the treatment. The findings were published in The Journal for ImmunoTherapy of Cancer.
"This study shows that a common, safe, tolerable, convenient, and inexpensive drug may significantly improve how well an important class of cancer therapies works," said Tyler J. Curiel, MD, MPH, FACP, the study's senior and lead author.
Making PARP Inhibitors Work for More Patients
Olaparib belongs to a group of targeted cancer drugs known as PARP inhibitors. These medicines work by taking advantage of defects in the way certain cancer cells repair damaged DNA. They are especially effective against tumors with problems in homologous recombination DNA damage repair, including cancers linked to BRCA gene mutations.
Many cancers, however, do not have those DNA repair defects, which means PARP inhibitors are not effective for a large number of patients. Even when the drugs initially work, tumors often become resistant over time.
