Blood Pressure Drug Telmisartan Supercharges Olaparib
Get the Health newsletter
Daily health & science — research, biotech, public health, the studies worth knowing. Free.
- Dartmouth Cancer Center researchers found that telmisartan significantly boosted olaparib's cancer-killing activity, with results published in The Journal for ImmunoTherapy of Cancer.
- Tyler J. Curiel, MD, MPH, FACP, the study's senior and lead author, showed telmisartan can sensitize tumors to PARP inhibitors even when they lack the homologous recombination DNA repair defects those drugs typically require.
- The telmisartan-olaparib combination increased DNA damage inside cancer cells and boosted type I interferon production, signaling molecules that help the immune system identify and attack tumors.
- Telmisartan also lowered PD-L1 levels in tumor cells — a protein cancers use to evade immune detection — and its cancer-enhancing effects were unique among ARB-class blood pressure drugs tested.
- Two clinical trials are already underway at Dartmouth: one combining telmisartan with olaparib in men with metastatic, castration-resistant prostate cancer, where Curiel said the first participant experienced an 'exceptional response,' and a second in platinum-resistant ovarian cancer that recently enrolled its first patient.
- Curiel's team reports they also have data showing telmisartan improves efficacy of distinct chemotherapy classes and immunotherapies across many cancer types through related mechanisms.
Why it matters: For cancer patients whose tumors lack BRCA mutations or have developed resistance to olaparib, a confirmed trial win could mean a new combination built on a cheap, oral, already-approved generic with a long safety track record — potentially faster to deploy than any new targeted therapy. The first prostate-cancer participant in Dartmouth's ongoing trial showed what Curiel called an 'exceptional response,' though efficacy in larger cohorts is still to be determined.
