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(HealthDay News) - Drugs commonly used to control high blood pressure may also shrink lung tumors, new animal studies show.

As prescribed, the medicines - known as angiotensin-converting enzyme (ACE) inhibitors - keep blood pressure in check by boosting levels of the "angiotensin (1-7)" hormone, thereby prompting dilation of blood vessel walls.

Blood pressure patients taking ACE inhibitors also have lower rates of lung cancer, noted a team from Wake Forest University School of Medicine in Winston-Salem, N.C....

The original article can be found at: hhttp://www.cbc.ca/cp/HealthScout/070315/6031506AU.html

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what we said (Hover the mouse cursor over underlined words for more info)

This article makes the claim that ACE inhibitors could help treat lung cancer patients by shrinking the growth of their tumors as well as cutting "back on levels of cycloxygenase-2 (cox-2), an enzyme that promotes cell growth and is often elevated in lung cancer patients".

This article does well when it clearly states the novelty of this treatment and that it has only been tested on mice, leaving the effectiveness for humans unknown. It also mentions other treatment options to lung cancer patients such as chemotherapy or cox-2 medications.

However, this article does mention lung cancer's high mortality rate which inferring that a treatment is badly needed (as opposed to known methods of prevention) Ultimately the treatment for humans is questionable as the research is limited to rodents.

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