Metastasis Risk Reduction Related with Beta-Blocker Treatment in Mexican Women with Breast Cancer

Breast Cancer (BCa) is the most common malignant tumour in Mexican women. In BCa, several studies have linked β2-adrenergic receptor activation with increased tumour growth and progression as related with Epinephrine-NorEpinephrine (E-NE) stimulation. The aim of this study was to describe Beta-Blocker (BB) treatment related with reduction of the risk of metastasis in Mexican patients with BCa.

We collected data of 120 patients seen at the High-Specialty Naval General Hospital in Mexico City (HOSGENAES), all of these with a histopathological diagnosis of BCa. Four groups of patients were divided as follows: without Systemic Arterial Hypertension (SAH); with SAH treatment with non-selective BB; with SAH treatment with selective BB, and with SAH treatment with other antihypertensive drugs. Chi-square, Mantel- Haenszel, Student t, and ANOVA tests were performed for data analysis.

On average, patients were 54.8±11.8 years of age. Risk factors such as smoking and consuming alcohol exhibited a frequency of 33 and 36.5% respectively. Clinical stages III- IV were found in 50% of patients, while, 30% of patients had arterial hypertension (n=29 and N=96, respectively) and 17.5% used BB. One hundred percent of patients with arterial hypertension treated with BB for β1 - and β2 -adrenergic-receptors did not present metastasis globally, but patients treated with β1 BB presented 30% of metastasis while patients treated with no BB or without SAH had around 70% of metastasis.

In Mexican patients with BCa and SAH treated with non-selective (β1- and β2-adrenergic receptors) BB, a decrease in the risk for metastasis was observed at the time of diagnosis.