Trial reportBMC cancer2018
Repurposing existing medications as cancer therapy: design and feasibility of a randomized pilot investigating propranolol administration in patients receiving hematopoietic cell transplantation.
Trial report in BMC cancer, 2018. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. It is linked to trial NCT02420223 (Randomized Controlled Pilot Study Using Propranolol to Decrease Gene Expression of Stress-Mediated Beta-Adrenergic Pathways in Hematopoietic Stem Cell Transplant), which is not on this map. Cited by 22 papers.
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.
Randomized Controlled Pilot Study Using Propranolol to Decrease Gene Expression of Stress-Mediated Beta-Adrenergic Pathways in Hematopoietic Stem Cell Transplant (HCT) Recipients
Who cites it
22 citing papers in PubMed, 35 citations in OpenAlex.
- Metformin Therapy in Autosomal Dominant Polycystic Kidney Disease: A Feasibility Study.American journal of kidney diseases : the official journal of the National Kidney Foundation · 2022Trial
- Rap1A, Rap1B, and β-Adrenergic Signaling in Autologous HCT: A Randomized Controlled Trial of Propranolol.The Yale journal of biology and medicine · 2022Trial
- Propranolol inhibits molecular risk markers in HCT recipients: a phase 2 randomized controlled biomarker trial.Blood advances · 2020Trial
- Preliminary Cost-Effectiveness of Re-Purposing β-Blockers as an Adjunct Treatment for Women with Triple-Negative Breast Cancer.Healthcare (Basel, Switzerland) · 2025Article
- Stress regulatory hormones and cancer: the contribution of epinephrine and cancer therapeutic value of beta blockers.Endocrine · 2025Review
- A retrospective study on beta-blocker use and outcomes in hematopoietic stem cell transplant patients.PeerJ · 2025Article
- Drug repurposing for cancer therapy.Signal transduction and targeted therapy · 2024Review
- Challenges in Pharmacological Intervention in Perilipins (PLINs) to Modulate Lipid Droplet Dynamics in Obesity and Cancer.Cancers · 2023Review
- Propranolol-Loaded Trehalosome as Antiproliferative Agent for Treating Skin Cancer: Optimization, Cytotoxicity, and In Silico Studies.Pharmaceutics · 2023Article
- Drug Repurposing in Oncology: A Systematic Review of Randomized Controlled Clinical Trials.Cancers · 2023Review
- Dihydroergotamine ameliorates liver fibrosis by targeting transforming growth factor β type II receptor.World journal of gastroenterology · 2023Article
- Trial watch: beta-blockers in cancer therapy.Oncoimmunology · 2023Article
- Psychological distress and eustress in cancer and cancer treatment: Advances and perspectives.Science advances · 2022Review
- Propranolol: A "Pick and Roll" Team Player in Benign Tumors and Cancer Therapies.Journal of clinical medicine · 2022Review
- Using Mice to Model Human Disease: Understanding the Roles of Baseline Housing-Induced and Experimentally Imposed Stresses in Animal Welfare and Experimental Reproducibility.Animals : an open access journal from MDPI · 2022Review
- Neurobiology of Cancer: Introduction of New Drugs in the Treatment and Prevention of Cancer.International journal of molecular sciences · 2021Review
- Beta-Blockers and Cancer: Where Are We?Pharmaceuticals (Basel, Switzerland) · 2020Review
- The Influence of Pre-Existing Beta-Blockers Use on Survival Outcomes in HER2 Positive Advanced Breast Cancer: Pooled Analysis of Clinical Trial Data.Frontiers in oncology · 2020Article
- C/EBPβ regulates the M2 transcriptome in β-adrenergic-stimulated macrophages.Brain, behavior, and immunity · 2019Article
- Beta-Adrenergic Signaling in Tumor Immunology and Immunotherapy.Critical reviews in immunology · 2019Review
Corrections and comments
PubMed lists nothing against this paper. Absence here is not a guarantee, only a check that was made.
Authors and funding
16 authors at 5 institutions in 2 countries.
Funding
Abstract
backgroundRepurposing existing medications for antineoplastic purposes can provide a safe, cost-effective, and efficacious means to further augment available cancer care. Clinical and preclinical studies suggest a role for the ß-adrenergic antagonist (ß-blocker) propranolol in reducing rates of tumor progression in both solid and hematologic malignancies. In patients undergoing hematopoietic cell transplantation (HCT), the peri-transplant period is a time of increased activity of the ß-adrenergically-mediated stress response.
methodsWe conducted a proof-of-concept randomized controlled pilot study assessing the feasibility of propranolol administration to patients between ages 18-75 who received an autologous HCT for multiple myeloma. Feasibility was assessed by enrollment rate, tolerability, adherence, and retention.
resultsOne hundred fifty-four patients underwent screening; 31 (20%) enrolled in other oncology trials that precluded dual trial enrollment and 9 (6%) declined to enroll in the current trial. Eighty-nine (58%) did not meet eligibility requirements and 25 (16%) were eligible; of the remaining eligible patients, all were successfully enrolled and randomized. The most common reasons for ineligibility were current ß-blocker use, age, logistics, and medical contraindications. 92% of treatment arm patients tolerated and remained on propranolol for the study duration; 1 patient discontinued due to hypotension. Adherence rate in assessable patients (n = 10) was 94%. Study retention was 100%.
conclusionsFindings show that it is feasible to recruit and treat multiple myeloma patients with propranolol during HCT, with the greatest obstacle being other competing oncology trials. These data support further studies examining propranolol and other potentially repurposed drugs in oncology populations.
trial registrationThis randomized controlled trial was registered at clinicaltrials.gov with the identifier NCT02420223 on April 17, 2015.
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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.