Ahead of this week’s Morningside Center conference on repurposing drugs, we wanted to highlight a recent paper in NPJ Precision Oncology by dermatologist Jack Arbiser. It may represent a new chapter in the story of the beta-blocker propranolol.

Infantile hemangioma (stock photo)

Several years ago, doctors in France accidentally discovered that propranolol is effective against hemangiomas: bright red birthmarks made of extra blood vessels, which appear in infancy. Hemangiomas often don’t need treatment and regress naturally, but some can lead to complications because they compromise other organs. Infants receiving propranolol require close monitoring to ensure that they do not suffer from side effects related to propranolol’s beta blocker activity, such as slower heart rate or low blood sugar.

Arbiser’s lab showed that only one of two mirror-image forms of propranolol is active against endothelial or hemangioma cells, but it is the inactive one, as far as being a beta-blocker. Many researchers were already looking at repurposing propranolol based on its anti-cancer properties. The insight could be a way to avoid beta-blocker side effects, even beyond hemangiomas to malignant tumors. Check out the Office of Technology Transfer’s feature on this topic.
Arbiser is scheduled to speak on Thursday at the Morningside conference about another drug, gentian violet.