アンジオテンシン変換酵素阻害剤の抗血管新生作用による肝癌発育抑制効果の検討

Abstract

Since angiogenesis is essential for the growth of any solid tumor, emerging efforts are being made to develop anti-angiogenic therapy. To date, however, no anti- angiogenic agent has become widely available in clinic. Angiotensin-Ⅰ converting enzyme (ACE) inhibitors are commonly used as antihypertensive agents, and have tecently been suggested to decrease the risk of cancer. Here we show an ACE inhibitor, perindopril appears to be a potent inhibitor of tumor development and angiogenesis at clinical doses, whereas angiotensin-Ⅱ receptor antagonists do not exert such an inhibitory effect. The potent angiogenic factor, vascular endothelial growth factor (VEGF) is significantly suppressed in tumors by perindopril, and it also inhibits VEGF-induced tumor growth. In vitro studies showed that perindopril is not cytotoxic for either tumor cells or endothelial cells. Since perindopril is already in widespread use clinically, it may represent a potential new strategy for anticancer thefapy.