You may have seen reports in some newspapers recently that researchers have discovered a possible link between statins and cancer treatment. The Daily Express, for example, reported that statins had “been shown to block the growth and spread of tumours” and that they “could be the key to beating cancer”. Your patients may want to know how soon they can start being treated with statins for their cancer.
However, the answer is not quite so straightforward. The research, which was carried out by scientists at Columbia University and other centres throughout the USA, Japan and Norway, concentrated on a very distinct form of breast cancer.
The researchers found that a mutated form of the p53 gene produces an abnormal form of protein which encourages the development of tumours, whereas the healthy gene prevents them. They investigated altering the mutated form of the gene so that it no longer promoted the growth of tumours, and also using the mutated form in healthy cells to see whether it would encourage the development of cancer in them.
They discovered that the same biochemical sequence that led to cells becoming cancerous was also involved in the creation of cholesterol, which suggested that statins could be useful in preventing the development of the cancer. According to NHS sources (www.nhs.uk/news/) the researchers discovered that simvastatin “reduced cancer cell growth and increased cancer cell death to an even greater extent than interfering with the gene mutation alone”.
The research was all laboratory-based, using cultures generated from breast cancer tumours containing the mutant p53 gene. Tests were also performed on mice, but no human testing has yet been undertaken. This research was just an early step in the process of investigating the link between statins and the treatment of a specific type of breast cancer. Further studies and clinical testing will be required both on breast cancer and on the possibility of using statins to treat other forms of cancer, and it will take several years before statins could be licensed for use in cancer treatment.
There is no evidence so far that the use of statins by patients with high cholesterol will reduce their risk of developing cancer.
The NHS says, “This study provides exciting, if early, evidence of a potential role for a widely available drug in the treatment of cancer. … However, many questions remain unanswered, and it is not possible to say as yet whether statins or related drugs will ultimately be useful as cancer treatments”.
Sadly, your patients have a long wait ahead of them.