A daily dose of cholesterol-lowering statins could help prevent breast cancer, scientists claim
A Daily dose of statins could help prevent breast cancer, scientists claim.
The drugs are already taken by millions of Britons to help lower cholesterol.
Researchers believe a by-product of cholesterol to be responsible for fuelling the growth and spread of the commonest types of breast cancer.
A study suggests that lowering cholesterol offers a simple means of reducing risk of the disease.
Previous research had shown a link between raised cholesterol levels and breast cancer, but the association was not well understood.
The new study, published in the journal Science, discovered that one of the chemicals produced when cholesterol breaks down in the body has a similar effect to the female hormone, oestrogen, which accelerates three quarters of breast cancers.
‘A lot of studies have shown a connection between obesity and breast cancer, and specifically that elevated cholesterol is associated with breast cancer risk, but no mechanism has been identified,’ said lead researcher Dr Donald McDonnell, from Duke University in North Carolina.
‘What we have now found is a molecule called 27HC that mimics oestrogen and can independently drive the growth of breast cancer.’
The research was conducted on mice and daily injections of 27HC caused their breast cancers to spread more rapidly.
Treating the mice with statins resulted in reductions to both cholesterol levels and tumour growth.
The common drugs - used by millions in Britain - could help prevent common breast cancers (pictured) because they help to fight cholesterol a by product of which can fuel the growth of tumours
Tests on human cells showed that the most aggressive cancers produced high levels of a chemical that, in turn, promoted the production of 27HC.
‘This is a very significant finding,’ said Dr McDonnell. ‘Human breast tumours are making an oestrogen-like molecule that can promote the growth of the tumour. In essence, the tumours have developed a mechanism to use a different source of fuel.’
The research also revealed that high levels of cholesterol can block the widely used drug tamoxifen, which is taken to counter the cancer-fuelling effects of oestrogen.
Dr Emma Smith, Cancer Research UK’s senior science communications officer, said: ‘This study is intriguing as it shows for the first time a direct link between cholesterol and breast cancer in mice – but it’s too early to say how this knowledge might help tackle breast cancer in the future.
'And, as the research was only done in the lab, it’s a long way from showing that taking statins will lower a woman’s risk of developing the disease.’
At present, the drugs are given to eight million patients who have high cholesterol or a risk of heart disease. And previous studies have suggested that statins may actually have the opposite effect.
Earlier this year, experts at the Fred Hutchinson Cancer Research Centre in Seattle found that long-term use of statins led to a heightened risk of invasive ductal carcinoma (IDC), which accounts for around seven out of ten breast cancer cases.
Large scale clinical trials are now being carried out to assess the impact of statins on a range of cancers.
Around 48,000 women in Britain are diagnosed with breast cancer each year, equivalent to around 130 a day. A woman has a one in nine chance of developing the disease at some point in her life.
Read more: http://www.dailymail.co.uk/health/article-2515102/Could-statins-help-prevent-breast-cancer-Study-finds-high-cholesterol-cause-disease.html#ixzz2m37728pP
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