Do Angiotensin Receptor Blockers Cause Cancer?

 By Christopher Jacoby

What are angiotensin receptor blockers? This question would come to any reader’s mind first while going through the title because of the reason that these drugs are really uncommon. Their implementation and usage is so particular that no one has really considered knowing of what their functions are and what outcomes they could promote into the human body as well. However, a few years back a research has shown that angiotensin receptor blockers that are used by tens of millions of patients can cause a deliberate increase in cancer of several kinds and forms. It could either be lung cancer, blood cancer or bone cancer.
Angiotensin receptor blockers have been used for the past decade in the medicinal field to reduce blood pressure and increased heart rate within a short time span. Commonly abbreviated as ARB, angiotensin receptor blockers work for the dilation of blood vessels readily by the action of a series of hormonal cascade. The series of reactions make sure that the lowered blood pressure is resolved normally. The first step in the reactions is the formation of rennin through kidneys when they determine the lower blood pressure in the blood stream. As a consequence, rennin stimulates the production of a chain of proteins known as angiotensin 1 which is then converted into angiotensin 2 by an enzyme present in the lungs. This angiotensin 2 is released in a sufficient amount so the blood pressure could be brought back to a normal count. During all this process, the angiotensin amount remains fluctuating.
This fluctuation in angiotensin however is disrupted by a few of the drugs that are used in the treatment of hypertension, heart failure and diabetes-related kidney damage. The constriction of blood vessels result in the reduction of blood pressure that imbalances everything. This blood supply that is imbalanced causes the lymph nodes of the body to restrict their secretions; the lymphatic drainage being improper results in tumor formation in several regions of the body. This virtue is specific for the tissues of breast, lungs and blood capillaries. Renal carcinoma and colon carcinoma is most common form of the diseases that develop from such conditions as well because the angiotensin receptor blockers are directly related to our digestive and excretory systems.
A relation between angiotensin receptor blockers and cancer was identified when the outcomes of the Candesartan in Heart Failure Assessment of Reduction in Mortality and Morbidity (CHARM) study came out in the year 2003. Since then, several publications have indicated the fact that we need to refrain from such therapeutic drugs.
Angiotensin receptor blockers however have different effects on different people. Most of the time, they have negative effects on the patients that are allergic to the reagents. Cancer is the severe form of the side effects these blockers can have on the body cells; apart from cancer, these can also cause coughing, low blood pressure, headache, diarrhea, rashes, nasal congestion, leg pain and some other concerns as well.
Source: Health Guidance