BETA BLOCKERS

Linda enjoying yet again another tyke, 2010

For the past month or so my usual essentially torpid lifestyle has been reduced further, to a state of almost complete physical inactivity - owing to arthritis in more joints that I would care to list.  Monday I will see a specialist in arthritic diseases, so rescue may be at hand.  In the meantime I spend my days reading and pecking away at this keyboard, instead of tromping around outside where (for a few more days) the weather will continue to be warm and beautiful.  In trying to catch up with the backlog from my Alaska hiatus, this morning I ran on this article.  It is moderately tough sledding, so I will summarize what little I got out of it, below.

http://www.medpagetoday.com/HematologyOncology/OvarianCancer/53298

There is a type of blood-pressure medication called a beta blocker.  Mainly, it slows heartbeat- frequency and helps cope with arrhythmia.  It also, in some, makes a person feel like he or she is going about their daily activities in a universe consisting entirely of thin, lukewarm gruel.  I was on a beta-blocker once and felt no effect; probably my normal state is to operate in warm Cream of Wheat. 

It turns out that if you have ovarian cancer and have been taking a certain non-specific type of beta blocker, your chance of a much-extended remission is improved.  However, the drug must be “non-specific”; a common example is propranolol.  What seems to happen is this:  The hormone epinephrine (and its chemically close relatives) have the effect of favoring angiogenesis in tumor masses.  “Angiogenesis”, as you probably know, means building blood vessels.  We have discussed this before: one avenue of research in cancer therapy involves drugs that inhibit angiogenesis.  Non-specific beta blockers inhibit the formation (or activity?) of epinephrine.  Voila!  A side-effect of cardiac protection keeps cancer at bay!  But only at bay; non-specific beta blockers do not reduce mortality.

I need to go outside, if only to sit on my deck and watch my cucumbers grow.  By writing this “explanation” I have relieved you of the need to grapple with such things as pro-angiogenic vascular endothelial growth factors, as well as statistical concepts like HR (hazard ratio).  I go the extra yard for all you guys.  I hope you appreciate it.