Institute of Cancer Research study suggest statins can help reduce breast cancer relapse
- Taking statins may help women avoid breast cancer returning after surgery
- Scientists found cholesterol can hamper the way breast cancer drugs work
- The breakthrough by British researchers described as a ‘crucial discovery’
- Statins alongside cancer drugs could significantly increase survival rates
Ben Spencer, Medical Correspondent For The Daily Mail
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Taking statins (pictured, file photo) could help thousands of women avoid breast cancer returning after surgery, scientists have found
Taking statins could help thousands of women avoid breast cancer returning after surgery, scientists have found.
British researchers discovered that cholesterol can hamper the way common breast cancer drugs work, helping tumours become resistant to treatment.
The breakthrough – described as a ‘crucial discovery’ – suggests that taking cheap and readily available statins alongside cancer drugs could significantly increase survival rates.
More than 53,000 women are diagnosed with breast cancer in Britain each year.
About 80 per cent of these suffer with a form that is driven by the female hormone oestrogen, called ER-positive breast cancer.
This type of cancer is treated with hormone therapy, which either lowers levels of oestrogen in the body, or blocks it from reaching the cancer cells.
For most women, the hormone drugs are effective. But for about 12,000 each year the cancer becomes resistant to the treatment, and the tumours return.
The discovery, made at the Institute of Cancer Research in London, reveals for the first time that cholesterol may be to blame. If doctors use cholesterol-busting statin drugs, they might be able to stop the cancer coming back.
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The researchers found that cancer cells use cholesterol to enable them to keep growing. They found that when oestrogen is blocked, tumours evolve to produce a new molecule made from cholesterol – called 25-hydroxycholesterol or 25-HC – which mimics oestrogen and encourages cancer cells to continue to grow.
Study leader Dr Lesley-Ann Martin, whose findings are published in the journal Breast Cancer Research, said: ‘Testing the patient’s tumour for 25-HC or the enzymes that make it may allow us to predict which patients are likely to develop resistance to hormone therapy, and tailor their treatment accordingly.
Findings: British researchers discovered that cholesterol can hamper the way common breast cancer drugs work. More than 53,000 women are diagnosed with breast cancer in Britain each year (file photo)
‘Our study also demonstrates that statins could be a valuable addition to breast cancer treatment’. Dr Martin’s team monitored breast cancer cells grown in the lab to see why breast cancer can relapse in women taking hormone drugs called aromatase inhibitors, which are generally taken for five years after surgery.
They found some cancer cells were making their own fuel by producing 25-HC, allowing them to continue growing despite a lack of oestrogen.
When the experts blocked the pathway allowing cholesterol production, the spread of cancer cells slowed by 30 to 50 per cent. The findings were supported by two trials involving nearly 900 patients.
Baroness Morgan of Drefelin, of Breast Cancer Now, which funded the research, said: ‘This is a really crucial discovery. Far too many women have to deal with the potentially devastating consequences of their breast cancer coming back and this research presents an important opportunity to improve the effectiveness of today’s most commonly used treatments.’
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