Impact of Angiotensin I-converting Enzyme Inhibitors and Angiotensin II Type-1 Receptor Blockers on Survival of Patients with NSCLC

It has been shown that angiotensin I-converting enzyme inhibitors (ACEIs) and angiotensin II type-1 receptor blockers (ARBs) can decrease tumor growth and tumor-associated angiogenesis and inhibit metastasis. Epidermal growth factor receptor (EGFR) mutations are found in approximately 30% of patients with advanced non-small cell lung cancer (NSCLC) in East Asia and in 10–15% of such patients in Western countries. We retrospectively identified 228 patients with histologically confirmed advanced NSCLC and 73 patients with early stage disease; 103 of these patients took antihypertensive drugs, and 112 received treatment with EGFR tyrosine kinase inhibitors (TKIs). There was a significant difference in progression-free survival after first-line therapy (PFS(1)) between the ACEI/ARB group and the non-ACEI/ARB group. For the patients treated with TKIs, there was a significant difference in PFS but not in overall survival (OS) between the ACEI/ARB group and the non-ACEI/ARB group. For the patients with advanced NSCLC, there was a significant difference in PFS(1) between the ACEI/ARB group and the non-ACEI/ARB group. ACEI/ARB in combination with standard chemotherapy or TKIs had a positive effect on PFS(1) or OS, regardless of whether the lung cancer was in the early or advanced stage.