β-Adrenergic Receptors : New Target in Breast Cancer

Abstract

Preclinical studies have demonstrated that β-adrenergic receptor antagonists could improve the prognosis of breast cancer. However, the conclusions of clinical and pharmacoepidemiological studies have been inconsistent. This review was conducted to re-assess the relationship between beta-adrenoceptor blockers and breast cancer prognosis. Materials and <br/><b>Methods</b>: The literature was searched from PubMed, EMBASE and Web of Nature (Thompson Reuters) databases through using key terms, such as breast cancer and betaadrenoceptor blockers. <br/><b>Results</b>: Ten publications met the inclusion criteria. Six suggested that receiving betaadrenoceptor blockers reduced the risk of breast cancer–specific mortality, and three of them had statistical significance (hazard ratio (HR)=0.42; 95% CI=0.18-0.97; p=0.042). Two studies reported that risk of recurrence and distant metastasis (DM) were both significantly reduced. One study demonstrated that the risk of relapsefree survival (RFS) was raised significantly with beta-blockers (BBS) (HR= 0.30; 95% CI=0.10-0.87; p=0.027). One reported longer disease-free interval (Log Rank (LR)=6.658; p=0.011) in BBS users, but there was no significant association between overall survival (OS) and BBS (HR= 0.35; 95% CI=0.12–1.0; p=0.05) in five studies. <br/><b>Conclusions</b>: Through careful consideration, it is suggested that beta adrenoceptor blockers use may be associated with improved prognosis in breast cancer patients. Nevertheless, larger size studies are needed to further explore the relationship between beta-blocker drug use and breast cancer prognosis.