Retrospective clinical study of renin-angiotensin system blockers in lung cancer patients with hypertension

Purpose Renin-angiotensin system blockers (RASBs), which include angiotensin-converting enzyme inhibitors (ACEIs) and angiotensin-2 receptor 1 blockers (ARBs), have been reported to be associated with lung cancer metastasis, radiotherapy and chemotherapy. Until now, very limited clinical data for RASBs’ diagnostic and prognostic effects has existed for lung cancer chemotherapy in Chinese patients. Methods There were a total of 678 lung cancer patients with hypertension, of which 461 (68%) were in the non-RASBs group and 217 (32%) were in the RASBs group. Patients’ gender, age, smoking status, histologic differentiation, tumor size, pathological grade, lymph node metastasis, pathological stage and progression-free survival (PFS) were retrospectively analyzed between these two groups. The clinical effects of ACEIs and ARBs in lung cancer patients were compared via t tests, and χ 2 test, and potential prognostic factors for progression-free survival (PFS) were evaluated by Kaplan–Meier analysis. Results Significant differences were observed in lymph node metastasis between the RASBs and non-RASBs groups. The RASBs group (62.8% vs 71.7%, p = 0.037) and ARBs group (60.0% vs 71.7%, p = 0.030) had lower lymph node metastasis, and patients with RASBs had a lower pathological stage than those in non-RASBs groups (67.1% vs 77.4%, p = 0.044 ). The PFS of the RASBs (10.7 vs. 6.7 months, p = 0.040) and ACEIs (12.9 vs 6.7 months, p = 0.021) groups were longer than that of the non-RASBs group, while no statistical difference was shown between the ACEIs and ARBs groups. Moreover, the significant results of PFS were further confirmed in pathological stage III–IV patients. In the non-RASB group, 55% of patients took calcium channel blockers (CCBs), and the ACEIs group have a significantly longer PFS compared to the non-CCBs group (6.4 vs 12.9 months, p = 0.036). Conclusion In this study, we showed that the use of RASBs is a positive factor for pathological stage and prognosis of lung cancer patients. Therefore, it is necessary to actively evaluate medical history, especially the use of anti-hypertension medication, in patients with lung cancer and reflect medical history in the treatment and management plans of these patients.