Spanish scientists have found that drugs used for high blood pressure and heart conditions are effective in treating glioblastoma, a type of brain cancer.

Professor and researcher Judit Herreros of the University of Lérida (northeast Spain) explained that “mibefradil and NNC-55-0396 drugs are known as potent T-type calcium channel blockers,” noting that they and other groups have demonstrated this. these compounds “cause the death of cancer cells such as glioblastoma, a brain tumor for which there are few treatment options.”

These data allowed mibefradil to be tested in clinical trials in patients with this type of cancer, confirming the safety of the drug alone or in combination with standard therapy.

Similarly, the researcher added, previous studies had hypothesized that these compounds act by blocking T channels. Therefore, the research is now investigating the mechanisms of action of the drug NNC-55-0396 and finds “paradoxically, the antitumor effect of the drug.” The drug is produced by T-channel-independent signaling pathways.

“These results describe the cytotoxicity mechanism of these compounds, identify a death pathway with therapeutic implications, and confirm the drugs’ usefulness as antitumor agents in glioblastoma and other cancers,” the researchers write.

Glioblastoma is the most common and aggressive brain cancer due to its ability to overwhelm the immune system and grow.

The article was published in the journal Biomedicine and Pharmacotherapy.