Taking statins could help prevent breast cancer, new research suggests.
The cholesterol-reducing drugs are already taken by seven million people in the UK, with the aim of reducing the risk of heart attacks and strokes.
But British scientists say the cheap drugs, which cost the NHS less than £2 a month to prescribe for each person, could also drastically reduce the risk of breast cancer.
A study of more than 600,000 women found that breast cancer risk was almost doubled in those with high levels of fat in their blood.
A study of more than one million women in the UK over a 14-year period has suggested there is a link between high cholesterol levels and developing breast cancer
The research is still at an early stage and the findings do not yet prove that cholesterol helps trigger breast cancer.
But if future work demonstrates a causal link it raises the possibility of using statins to reduce women’s risk of the disease.
Cardiologist Rahul Potluri, from the University of Aston in Birmingham, said: ‘We found that women with high cholesterol had a significantly greater chance of developing breast cancer.
‘This was an observational study so we can’t conclude that high cholesterol causes breast cancer, but the strength of this association warrants further investigation.
‘A prospective study that monitors the risk of breast cancer in women with and without high cholesterol is needed to confirm what we observed. If the connection between high cholesterol and breast cancer is validated, the next step would be to see if lowering cholesterol with statins can reduce the risk of developing cancer.’
A total of 664,159 women from across the UK whose health records were stored on a national database took part in the study.
Statistical analysis showed that those with high cholesterol were 1.64 times more likely to have breast cancer than women with normal levels.
Around 50,000 British women develop breast cancer each year – four out of five of them in the post-menopausal years.
Previous research has shown a clear association between obesity and breast cancer in post-menopausal women.
And a US study last year found that a product of cholesterol, called 27HC, fuels human breast tumours in genetically engineered laboratory mice.
Researchers found women with high cholesterol, or hyperlipidaemia, increased their risk of breast cancer by 1.64 times
Scientists also discovered higher levels of 27HC in both healthy breast tissue and tumour cells in women with breast cancer.
Dr Potluri, who presented his findings at a European Society of Cardiology meeting in Barcelona, Spain, said: ‘We have a general principle that obesity is linked to breast cancer and a study in mice suggested that this may be because of cholesterol.
STATINS: BRITAIN'S MOST WIDELY PRESCRIBED DRUG
Statins are already Britain’s most prescribed drug but new NHS guidelines to be published later this month will dramatically increase the number of people eligible for a prescription.
At the moment statins are available to those deemed to have a 20 per cent risk of suffering a heart attack or stroke within the next decade.
The new guidelines will lower the threshold to anyone at a 10 per cent risk, which could increase the number of people on statins by up to 10million additional patients.
The planned shift to ‘pre-emptive’ prescribing has led some GPs to warn of a needless ‘medicalisation’ of people who do not need drugs.
But others say the chance to cheaply and effectively reduce the risk of heart attack and other diseases cannot be ignored.
‘We decided to investigate whether there was any association between hyperlipidaemia, which is high cholesterol essentially, and breast cancer.’
He added: ‘While our study was preliminary, our results are promising.’
‘Statins are cheap, widely available and relatively safe. We are potentially heading towards a clinical trial in 10 to 15 years to test the effect of statins on the incidence of breast cancer. If such a trial is successful, statins may have a role in the prevention of breast cancer, especially in high risk groups, such as women with high cholesterol.’
Baroness Delyth Morgan, chief executive of the Breast Cancer Campaign charity, said: ‘These are interesting results that report a link between increased fat in the blood and an increased risk of breast cancer.
‘However, this is just the first step in understanding more about how cholesterol relates to the risk of breast cancer, and more research is needed to determine whether statins could help prevent breast cancer.
‘We do know that being overweight, particularly after menopause, can increase a woman’s risk of developing breast cancer. We would encourage women to maintain a healthy weight and to discuss any concerns, such as their breast cancer risk, weight or cholesterol levels with their GP.’
Read more: http://www.dailymail.co.uk/health/article-2679656/Statins-used-treat-breast-cancer-scientists-identify-link-disease-high-cholesterol.html#ixzz36W0KWcR2
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