Study reveals popular blood pressure pills could protect women from deadliest forms of breast cancer

Breast cancer is the most common cancer diagnosed in women in the United States. According to The American Cancer Society, in 2025, about 316,950 new cases of invasive breast cancer will be diagnosed in women and about 42,170 will die because of it.Where people spend thousands of dollars on treatment for breast cancer, a new research has revealed how a cheap blood pressure pill already consumed by millions could protect women against one of the deadliest forms of cancer.Scientists at Monash University in Melbourne said beta blockers, which work by lowering the effects of stress hormones, may also stop the progression of triple-negative breast cancer in some patients in the study published in the scientific journal Science Signaling.The link between beta blockers and breast cancer was first revealed in 2023 but the reason for the same was not revealed. Now, researchers believe they have found the mechanism and potential low-cost treatment for the extremely aggressive disease.They looked at the interaction between two signalling molecules, cAMP and calcium which accelerate cancer spread when the beta-2 adrenoceptor, a receptor, is activated. Stress hormones such as cortisol were seen triggering this receptor, propelling tumour growth.The team discovered that beta blockers can switch off a gene called HOXC12 that drives the process, thus slowing the progression of the disease. This breakthrough could help doctors identify at the point of diagnosis which patients are most likely to benefit from beta-blocker therapy.'Our colleagues previously found that beta blockers are associated with a significant reduction in mortality in people with triple-negative breast cancer. Now we have a much better grasp on why this could be the case,' said Professor Michelle Halls, senior author of the study and expert in drug discovery biology at Monash Institute of Pharmaceutical Sciences.'Our collective research strongly suggests that HOXC12 is a potential new indicator for when triple-negative breast cancer patients could respond to beta-blocker targeted interventions,' added Terrance Lam, co-author of the study and a pharmaceutical PhD candidate at the institute.They also found that patients with high levels of gene expression were associated with poorer overall cancer survival outcomes.Researchers are now calling for further studies to 'urgently' identify if the gene can be used at diagnosis to identify patients who will benefit from beta-blocker therapy.Triple-negative breast cancer grows and spreads faster than other types of breast cancer. Additionally, it also has fewer treatment options as it doesn't interact with hormones such as oestrogen like other breast cancers, for which targeted therapies exist.