Carvedilol blocks neural regulation of breast cancer progression in vivo and is associated with reduced breast cancer mortality in patients

Purpose: The sympathetic nervous system drives breast cancer progression through β-adrenergic receptor signalling. This discovery has led to the consideration of cardiac β-blocker drugs as novel strategies for anticancer therapies. Carvedilol is a β-blocker used in the management of cardiovascular disorders, anxiety, migraine and chemotherapy-induced cardiotoxicity. However, little is known about how carvedilol affects cancer-related outcomes. 

Methods: To address this, we investigated the effects of carvedilol on breast cancer cell lines, in mouse models of breast cancer and in a large cohort of patients with breast cancer (n = 4014). 

Results: Treatment with carvedilol blocked the effects of sympathetic nervous system activation, reducing primary tumour growth and metastasis in a mouse model of breast cancer and preventing invasion by breast cancer cell lines. A retrospective analysis found that women using carvedilol at breast cancer diagnosis (n = 136) had reduced breast cancer-specific mortality compared with women who did not (n = 3878) (5-year cumulative incidence of breast cancer deaths: 3.1% versus 5.7%; p = 0.024 and 0.076 from univariate and multivariable analyses, respectively) after a median follow-up of 5.5 years. 

Conclusions: These findings provide a rationale to further explore the use of the β-blocker carvedilol as a novel strategy to slow cancer progression.