Shahid Akbar and Mansour Saleh Alsharidah respectively from the Department of Pharmacology, College of Pharmacy, and Department of Physiology, College of Medicine; Qassim University, Buraidah, in Saudi Arabia have just published a review entitled "Are Beta Blockers New Potential Anticancer Agents?" in the Asian Pacific Journal of Cancer Prevention

Abstract

β-Blockers have been one of the most widely used and versatile drugs for the past half a century. A new potential for their use as anti-cancer drugs has emerged in the past few years. Various retrospective case control studies have been suggestive that use of β-blockers before the diagnosis of cancer could have preventive and protective effects against non-small cell lung carcinoma, melanoma, and breast, pancreatic and prostate cancers. Experimental and clinical observations are still inconclusive with some inconsistent findings. However, indications are pointing toward a positive role of some β-blockers against certain forms of cancers. This mini review is an effort to present the up to date published results of case-control studies and experimental findings

You can find the free full text attached to this post.