ArticleOncotarget2010
Beta-blocker drug therapy reduces secondary cancer formation in breast cancer and improves cancer specific survival.
Article in Oncotarget, 2010. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 264 papers, 10 of them syntheses that pooled it.
What it found
Each row is one number read from the abstract, on the scale the paper reported it, with its interval. Left of the dashed line favours the treatment, right favours the comparator. Under each row is the sentence it came from. New to these charts? A ten-minute tutorial.
The abstract states no effect estimate the extractor could read, or names no intervention and outcome on the map, so this paper lights no cell and moves no belief. It is still indexed, cited and linked below.
The trial behind it
Trials whose registry record cites this paper, or whose number appears in the abstract. A trial that started after this paper was published is citing it as background, not reporting it.
Neither the registry nor the abstract names a trial number. If this is a trial report, that itself is worth knowing.
Who cites it
264 citing papers in PubMed, 10 syntheses or guidelines pooled it, 439 citations in OpenAlex.
- Beta-blocker use and survival outcomes in colorectal cancer patients: A systematic review and meta-analysis.The Journal of international medical research · 2025Pooled it
- Does propranolol have a role in cancer treatment? A systematic review of the epidemiological and clinical trial literature on beta-blockers.Journal of cancer research and clinical oncology · 2025Pooled it
- Impact of beta blockers on cancer neuroimmunology: a systematic review and meta-analysis of survival outcomes and immune modulation.Frontiers in immunology · 2025Pooled it
- Beta-blocker use and breast cancer outcomes: a meta-analysis.Breast cancer research and treatment · 2024Pooled it
- Non-selective beta-blockers and the incidence of hepatocellular carcinoma in patients with cirrhosis: a meta-analysis.Frontiers in pharmacology · 2023Pooled it
- β-blockers and breast cancer survival by molecular subtypes: a population-based cohort study and meta-analysis.British journal of cancer · 2022Pooled it
- Pooled it
- β-Blocker use is not associated with improved clinical outcomes in women with breast cancer: a meta-analysis.Bioscience reports · 2020Pooled it
- Cardiovascular Disease and Breast Cancer: Where These Entities Intersect: A Scientific Statement From the American Heart Association.Circulation · 2018Pooled it
- Use of non-selective β-blockers is associated with decreased tumor proliferative indices in early stage breast cancer.Oncotarget · 2017Pooled it
- Propranolol inhibits molecular risk markers in HCT recipients: a phase 2 randomized controlled biomarker trial.Blood advances · 2020Trial
- Perioperative Administration of an Intravenous Beta-Blocker Landiolol Hydrochloride in Patients with Lung Cancer: A Japanese Retrospective Exploratory Clinical Study.Scientific reports · 2019Trial
- Trial
- Perioperative COX-2 and β-Adrenergic Blockade Improves Metastatic Biomarkers in Breast Cancer Patients in a Phase-II Randomized Trial.Clinical cancer research : an official journal of the American Association for Cancer Research · 2017Trial
- Selective regulation of βMedical oncology (Northwood, London, England) · 2026Article
- Endothelial Epac1 facilitates YAP/TAZ controlled melanoma growth and angiogenesis.Angiogenesis · 2026Article
- Antitumour Effects of β-Blockers: A Narrative Review of the Literature.Current issues in molecular biology · 2026Review
- Targeting β-Adrenergic Signaling in Colorectal Cancer: Molecular Mechanisms and Therapeutic Potential of β-Blockers.Cancers · 2026Review
- β-Adrenergic receptors as immunomodulators in T cells: mechanisms of neuroimmune crosstalk and pathophysiological implications.Molecular medicine (Cambridge, Mass.) · 2026Review
- Molecular mechanisms and therapeutic targets in lung cancer-nerve crosstalk.Chinese medical journal pulmonary and critical care medicine · 2026Review
204 more citing papers are in PubMed but not listed here.
Corrections and comments
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Authors and funding
7 authors at 3 institutions in 2 countries.
Funding
No grant is acknowledged in the PubMed record.
Abstract
Laboratory models show that the beta-blocker, propranolol, can inhibit norepinephrine-induced breast cancer cell migration. We hypothesised that breast cancer patients receiving beta-blockers for hypertension would show reduced metastasis and improved clinical outcome. Three patient subgroups were identified from the medical records of 466 consecutive female patients (median age 57, range 28-71) with operable breast cancer and follow-up (>10 years). Two subgroups comprised 43 and 49 hypertensive patients treated with beta-blockers or other antihypertensives respectively, prior to cancer diagnosis. 374 patients formed a non-hypertensive control group. Metastasis development, disease free interval, tumour recurrence and hazards risk were statistically compared between groups. Kaplan-Meier plots were used to model survival and DM. Beta-blocker treated patients showed a significant reduction in metastasis development (p=0.026), tumour recurrence (p=0.001), and longer disease free interval (p=0.01). In addition, there was a 57% reduced risk of metastasis (Hazards ratio=0.430; 95% CI=0.200-0.926, p=0.031), and a 71% reduction in breast cancer mortality after 10 years (Hazards ratio=0.291; 95% CI=0.119-0.715, p=0.007). This proof-of-principle study showed beta-blocker therapy significantly reduces distant metastases, cancer recurrence, and cancer-specific mortality in breast cancer patients suggesting a novel role for beta-blocker therapy. A larger epidemiological study leading to randomised clinical trials is needed for breast and other cancer types including colon, prostate and ovary.
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Registered trials
Read under generation 80e0d062 · epoch 390. Bibliography from PubMed, PubMed Central and OpenAlex; grants from NIH RePORTER; trial links from ClinicalTrials.gov; estimates, votes and beliefs from the OpenQuestion graph.