Angiotensin-converting enzyme inhibitors for ovarian cancer? — a new adjuvant option or a silent trap

BACKGROUND: Ovarian cancer is a huge therapeutic and financial problem for which approved treatments have already achieved their limit of efficiency. A cost-effective strategy to extend therapeutic options in this malignancy is drug repurposing aimed at overcoming chemoresistance. Here, angiotensin-converting enzyme inhibitors (ACE-I) are worth considering. MATERIALS AND METHODS: We searched literature for publications supporting the idea of adjuvant application of ACE-Is in ovarian malignancy. Then, we searched The Cancer Genome Atlas databases for relevant alternations of gene expression patterns. We also performed in silico structure-activity relationship evaluation for predicting ACE-Is’ cytotoxicity against ovarian cancer cell lines. Finally, we reviewed the potential obstacles in ACE-Is repurposing process. RESULTS: The alternation of angiotensin receptor expression in ovarian cancer translates into poorer patient survival. This confirms the participation of the renin-angiotensin system in ovarian carcinogenesis. In observational studies, ACE-Is were shown synergize with both, platinum-based chemotherapy as well as with antiangiogenic therapy. Consistently, our in silico simulation showed that ACE-Is are probably cytotoxic against ovarian cancer cells. However, the publications on their chemopreventive properties were inconclusive. In addition, some reports correlated ACE-Is use with increased general cancer incidence. We hypothesized that this effect could be associated with mutagenic nitrosamine formation in ACE-Is’ pharmaceutical formulations, as was the case with angiotensin receptor blockers (ARBs) and other well-established pharmaceuticals. CONCLUSIONS: Available data warrant further research into repositioning ACE-Is to ovarian cancer as chemosensitizers. Prior to this, however, a special research program is needed to detect possible genotoxic contaminants of ACE-Is.