One of the world's oldest blood pressure drugs may also halt aggressive brain tumor growth (Hydralazine)

Medical Xpress / University of Pennsylvania / Science Advances ^ | Nov. 16, 2025 | Nathi Magubane / Kyosuke Shishikura et al

[ConservativeMind]

A team has revealed how hydralazine, one of the world's oldest blood pressure drugs and a treatment for preeclampsia, works. In doing so, they made a surprising discovery—it can also halt the growth of aggressive brain tumors.

In their paper the team uncovered the method of action of hydralazine, and in doing so, revealed an unexpected biological link between hypertensive disorders and brain cancer. The findings highlight how long-established treatments can reveal new therapeutic potential and could help in the design of safer, more effective drugs for both maternal health and brain cancer.

The team found that hydralazine blocks an oxygen-sensing enzyme called 2-aminoethanethiol dioxygenase (ADO)—a molecular switch that tells blood vessels when to tighten.

Hydralazine acts by binding to and blocking ADO, which means it effectively "mutes" that oxygen alarm. Once the enzyme was silenced, the signaling proteins it normally degrades—called regulators of G-protein signaling (RGS)—remained stable.

The buildup of RGS proteins, says Shishikura, tells the blood vessels to stop constricting, effectively overriding the "squeeze" signal. This reduces intracellular calcium levels, which he calls the "master regulator of vascular tension." As calcium levels fall, the smooth muscles in blood vessel walls relax, causing vasodilation and a drop in blood pressure.

Prior to this study, cancer researchers and clinicians had begun to suspect that ADO was important in glioblastoma, where tumors often have to survive in pockets of very low oxygen.

To see if hydralazine was a contender, Shishikura worked closely with structural biochemists and with neuroscientists.

They found that the ADO pathway that regulates vascular contraction also helps tumor cells survive in low-oxygen environments. Unlike chemotherapy, which aims to kill all cells outright, hydralazine disrupted that oxygen-sensing loop, triggering cellular "senescence," or a dormant, non-dividing state in glioblastoma cells, effectively pausing growth without triggering further inflammation or resistance.

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TOPICS: Health/Medicine
KEYWORDS: brain; tumor

[ConservativeMind]

Hydralazine, an inexpensive blood pressure drug, forces glioblastoma cells to no longer handle oxygen correctly, which triggers cancer dormancy.

It is commonly used with a diuretic.

[ConservativeMind]

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[KarlInOhio]

Can’t be true. I know from ivermectin and hydroxychloroquine that there are no alternative treatments from drugs. They treat one and only one disease.

[Uncle Miltie]

FDA to Glioblastoma:

“You’re not a blood vessel, y’all!”

[sauropod]

bkmk