Long-term treatment with enalapril or losartan does not show antiproliferative effects in peripheral blood mononuclear cells.

The objective of this study was to evaluate the long-term effects of enalapril, an angiotensin-converting enzyme inhibitor, and losartan, an angiotensin type 1 receptor antagonist, on the proliferation of peripheral blood mononuclear cells (PBMC) in patients with essential hypertension. Nine patients with a sitting diastolic blood pressure of > 95 mmHg and < 105 mmHg at the end of a 4-week placebo run-in period entered the double-blind phase of the study, which consisted of three 6-week periods during which patients were treated with placebo, enalapril (20 mg o.d.) or losartan (50 mg o.d.) The de novo synthesis of DNA, RNA and protein in PBMC was measured by [3H]-thymidine, [3H]-uridine or [3H]-leucine incorporation, respectively. Neither enalapril nor losartan affected the proliferation of PBMC measured as de novo synthesis of DNA, RNA and protein. Our data show that proliferation was not affected during angiotensin-converting enzyme inhibition with enalapril and angiotensin receptor type 1 antagonism with losartan.