- A study of one million women in the UK found a link between having high cholesterol levels and developing breast cancer
- Doctors believe a full clinical trial to test the effect of cholesterol-busting statins on the number of cases could happen within 10 years
- Researchers found having a high cholesterol increased the risk of developing breast cancer by 1.64 times
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Statins could be used to treat breast cancer after scientists identified a link between the disease and high cholesterol.
Top doctors have said a clinical trial to test the effect of the cholesterol-busting drugs on the incidence of breast cancer could happen within 10 years.
Scientists examined more than one million patients in the UK over a 14-year period, finding an association between high blood cholesterol and breast cancer.
Study lead author Doctor Rahul Potluri said: ‘Our preliminary study suggests that women with high cholesterol in their blood may be at greater risk of getting breast cancer.
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
‘It raises the possibility of preventing breast cancer with statins, which lower cholesterol, but as this is a primitive study, significant time and research is needed before this idea can be tested.’
Over the past few years, studies have suggested an association between obesity and breast cancer.
Last year a study in mice concluded that lowering circulating cholesterol or interfering with its metabolism may be used to prevent or treat breast cancer.
Dr Potluri 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.
‘We decided to investigate whether there was any association between hyperlipidaemia, which is high cholesterol essentially, and breast cancer.’
The researchers conducted a retrospective analysis of more than one million patients across the UK between 2000 and 2013 from the Algorithm for Comorbidities, Associations, Length of stay and Mortality (ACALM) clinical database.
There were 664,159 women and of these, 22,938 had hyperlipidaemia and 9,312 had breast cancer.
Some 530 women with hyperlipidaemia developed breast cancer.
The researchers used a statistical model to study the association between hyperlipidaemia and breast cancer.
They found that having hyperlipidaemia increased the risk of breast cancer by 1.64 times.
Dr Potluri 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.
Researchers found women with high cholesterol, or hyperlipidaemia, increased their risk of breast cancer by 1.64 times
‘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.’
Dr Potluri added: ‘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.’
He added: ‘While our study was preliminary, our results are promising.
‘We found a significant association between having high cholesterol and developing breast cancer that needs to be explored in more depth.
‘Caution is needed when interpreting our results because while we had a large study population, our analysis was retrospective and observational with inherent limitations.
‘That said, the findings are exciting and further research in this field may have a big impact on patients several years down the line.’
The research is due to be presented today at Frontiers in CardioVascular Biology in Barcelona, Spain.
The meeting is organised by the Council on Basic Cardiovascular Science of the European Society of Cardiology (ESC) in collaboration with 13 European cardiovascular science societies.
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lisa3,
london,
moments ago
people don’t want to take statins because the media keep telling people they are bad for you witj loads of side effects si I don’t think people will want to take them in case they prevent cancer
Michael Haymar,
Oxford UK,
10 minutes ago
Statins are becoming these wonder drugs that will cure your every illness, that now includes breast cancer. Total hogwash. The only thing that statins are good for is making huge profits for the pharmaceutical companies.
John.S.,
Bristol,
22 minutes ago
They must be really desperate to sell this awful drug………………………..
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