Do statins, ACE inhibitors or sartans improve outcome in primary glioblastoma?

Hello all,
I spotted this paper and thought it was best to share: “Do statins, ACE inhibitors or sartans improve outcome in primary glioblastoma?” Although I’ve not read the full paper, it’s worth noting that they concluded:

This secondary analysis of two large glioblastoma trials thus was unable to detect evidence for an association of the use of statins, ACEI or sartans with outcome in patients with newly diagnosed glioblastoma

Should we abandon ACE inhibitors, etc?

Drug Cocktail for Newly Diagnosed GBM

Hi Everyone,

I'm new to the blog and blogging in general. My brother is 3 weeks post op craniotomy for removal of 2cm brain tumor in left frontal lobe - complete resection was not possible but approximately 80% removed. Otherwise Joe is a healthy 35 yo male

Pathology report came back:
Grade IV Glioblastoma, wild type
Negative IDH1/2
Negative MGMT methylation
No amplification of EGFR gene

He will be part of a clinical trial with proton therapy radiation at MGH in Boston.  Joe is gripped by depression but committed to starting treatment - hopefully along with a drug cocktail. I've been helping him research and pull it together. When he starts radiation and chemo in a week or so I would like him to be on below meds / supplements

Drug	Dosage
Valproic Acid	1000mg
Chloroquine	250mg daily
Celebrex	200-400mg daily
Fluoxetine	40mg daily

Supplement	Dose
CBD / THC	gradually increasing dose
Boshwella	1000mg
Green Tea
Curcumin	1000-2000mg +
Melatonin	10-20mg
Maitake D	100mg
Fish Oil
Probiotic
Turkey Tail - ie PSK	3000mg
Vitamin D3	5000-10,000 UI
quercetin	500mg
milk thistle	1000-2000mg
Reishi mushroom

This is not a complete outline as I'm using some supplements he purchased and some meds he is already on (valproic acid).  I would love to have any suggestions or thoughts.

I also have some questions for you all (I'm sure the first of many) 

1. How open are neuro oncologist to a cocktail approach? Joe is afraid of asking them about adding anything to the current standard of care 

2. Is it true that unmethylated MGMT tumors are not as responsive to TMZ? Should we ask about a metronomic everyday low dose? What is the current dosing of TMZ in standard of care?

3. Should we look into adding Antabuse, Metformin, or an ACE Inhibitor? 

Best, 

Jenna

*my apologies for any typos 

Do statins, ACE inhibitors or sartans improve outcome in primary glioblastoma?

This is a new paper (click here for abstract) brought to us by some of the same authors who earlier produced:

Does Valproic Acid or Levetiracetam Improve Survival in Glioblastoma? A Pooled Analysis of Prospective Clinical Trials in Newly Diagnosed Glioblastoma

The group concluded:

"This secondary analysis of two large glioblastoma trials thus was unable to detect evidence for an association of the use of statins, ACEI or sartans with outcome in patients with newly diagnosed glioblastoma."

As with the previous study, there are some important caveats.  Some of the most intriguing data supporting the potential for angiotensin system blockers was in combination with bevacizumab:

Effect of angiotensin system inhibitors on survival in newly diagnosed glioma patients and recurrent glioblastoma patients receiving chemotherapy and/or bevacizumab

It would have been interesting to look at outcomes in those using/not using ACE inhibitors or sartans in combination with bevacizumab, for example in the Avaglio and RTOG-0825 trials.

Angiotensin-II has been shown to increase tumor-promoting macrophages in preclinical models:

https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/23333075

and these tumor-infiltrating myeloid cells may play a significant role in resistance to anti-VEGF therapies such as bevacizumab.

https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/26404753

Angiotensin system inhibitors + low dose Avastin

This June a study was published by Victor Levin et al. of Kaiser Permanente Hospital, Redwood City, which follows up on a previous study on the use of Avastin doses lower than the standard dose.

https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/28631191  (I've uploaded the full study to the Brain Tumor Library -> Folder 1. Therapies - Human Studies -> Angiotensin System Inhibitors)

The current study looked at the use of angiotensin system inhibitors, including both ACE inhibitors (benzapril, captopril, etc.) and angiotensin II receptor blockers (losartan, telmisartan, etc.) used for hypertension simultaneously with chemotherapy and/or Avastin in newly diagnosed and recurrent glioma patients.

In a very large cohort of 1186 infiltrative glioma cases (grades 2-4), use of an angiotensin system inhibitor (ASI) was significantly associated with better survival (hazard ratio 0.82), in a multivariate analysis adjusted for other variables such as age, extent of resection, GBM versus other grade, use of Avastin, etc.  This advantage of ASI treatment was even more significant in patients who were also treated with Avastin (HR 0.75).

A previously published cohort of 181 recurrent GBM patients treated with various doses of Avastin was examined with regard to their use of ASI drugs (for hypertension).  The previous study had shown trend toward longer survival in the group treated with lower-dose Avastin, and this study has been summarized elsewhere.
http://virtualtrials.com/pdf2016/benwilliamsTreatmentOptionsUpdate2016.pdf   (Page 90)

Remarkably, of the 89 patients treated with doses of Avastin lower than 3.6 mg/kg/week (the standard dose amounts to 5 mg/kg/week),  the 47 patients also using an ASI drug had a very impressive median survival of 99 weeks (22.8 months) versus 55.6 months (12.8 months) for the 42 patients receiving low dose Avastin without ASI drugs.

99 week (nearly 23 month) median survival (from treatment for recurrence) for a sizeable (n=47) group of recurrent glioblastoma patients in virtually unheard of.  Although all the usual caveats apply because of the retrospective, non-randomized nature of this study,  the outcomes are too impressive to ignore.

As Levin et al. conclude "Prospective clinical trials combining ASIs with low-dose BEV in GBM patients are now needed to confirm whether ASIs can enhance the efficacy of VEGF-targeted therapies and thereby improve clinical outcome."

As a side note, Victor Levin is the founder of the Society for Neuro-Oncology (SNO) and often described as the "father of neuro-oncology", at least in America.