A blood pressure drug that is prescribed often could also help fight cancer and dementia, according to BBC News.

Massachusetts General Hospital researchers think the blood pressure drug losartan, classed as an angiotensin inhibitor, may open up the collapsed blood vessels in solid tumors if it used combination with existing cancer drugs. The researchers plan to give losartan to patients who have pancreatic cancer to see if the combination improves life expectancy. Massachusetts General Hospital is an affiliate of Harvard Medical School.

The blood pressure drug losartan has been in use for over ten years. The blood pressure drug dilates blood vessels, allowing them to carry more blood, easing pressure against the blood vessel walls. A class of drug called anti-angiogenesis drugs is already being used to improve blood flow through tumors to enhance cancer treatment. On its own, Losartan had no effect on breast and pancreatic cancer tumor growth, but when combined losartan with standard chemo drugs, they delayed tumor growth and the mice lived longer.

The scientists gave losartan to mice with breast and pancreatic cancer, along with other chemotherapy drugs to test their theory. The researcher discovered that the blood pressure drug improved blood flow around the tumor. This let the chemotherapy drugs be delivered to the target more easily. Mice that were given the blood pressure drug survived much longer than mice given only chemotherapy. Researchers found that collagen and hyaluronan played a part in the compression of blood vessels inside tumors, but losartan stopped production of both of them by reducing CAFs.

The discovery was published in the journal Nature Communications. Researchers described angiotensin inhibitor losartan increased blood flow and improved chemotherapy drug outcomes in mice with breast and pancreatic cancer. Massachusetts General Hospital’s director of the Steele Laboratory for Tumor Biology Dr. Rakesh K. Jain was the lead author. Jain said "Angiotensin inhibitors are safe blood pressure medications that have been used for over a decade in patients and could be repurposed for cancer treatment."

Dr. Jain says the cancer drugs repair the abnormal structure of tumor blood vessels but the angiotensin inhibitors open collapsed blood vessels, compressing tumor blood vessels when the gel-like matrix that surrounds them expands as the tumor grows. Researchers discovered that by stopping the formation of collagen, a main constituent of the extracellular matrix, losartan helps distribute nanomedicines in tumors, in previous studies.

According to BBC News, Massachusetts General Hospital researchers are now recruiting volunteer patients who have inoperable pancreatic cancer to test the drug combination.

Another study by scientists in Ireland found that ACE inhibitors may also slow dementia decline.