Treatment of Metastatic Cancer with Statins

by Grace Stowe (IV)

In an effort to eradicate cancer, scientists are researching a variety of treatments and possible cures. One such treatment involves a drug previously only used to treat high cholesterol: statin, an inhibitor of HMG-CoA reductase in the mevalonate pathway. When statins inhibit the HMG-CoA reductase, they inhibit the downstream effects of the signaling cascade in the mevalonate pathway: increased membrane integrity, increased protein synthesis, increased cell cycle progression, and increased cell signaling, which all promotes cell proliferation. The inhibition promotes cell apoptosis (programmed cell death), which reduces the risk of metastatic cancer and uncontrolled tumor growth. While there is no definitive association between statins and the risk of developing cancer, there is promising evidence that statins are efficient at slowing the progression of metastatic prostate cancer. For example, in Coogan’s 2002 study on the association between statin use and incidents of prostate cancer the odds ratio (statistic that quantifies the association between two events, a value greater than one indicated that there is a correlation between the two parameters)of statin users with prostate cancer was 1.2, but in advanced cases, it was 0.9, meaning that there is a correlation between statin use and a decrease in the progression of non-metastatic prostate cancer, suggesting that the usage of statins reduces progression of metastatic prostate cancer. A similar result is seen in Platz’s 2006 report, which demonstrates that as the cancer progressed, the odds ratio decreased. Platz’s report indicates that the later the stage of prostate cancer, the more effective statins are at decreasing the progression of the disease. While these promising statistics are seen in the treatment of metastatic prostate cancer, they are not seen in the treatment of breast, colorectal, lung, or reproductive organ cancer, which all had an odds ratio of less than one when tested (no correlation between the risk of cancer and statin usage). As the use of statins for metastatic prostate cancer is new, there is limited data to support the efficacy of this treatment in the long term. In spite of the lack of data for usage over a longer period of time, statins are potentially a promising treatment for metastatic and fatal prostate cancer.

Works Cited

1. Boudreau, D. M., Yu, O., & Johnson, J. (2010, April 9). Statin Use and Cancer, Risk: A Comprehensive Review. Retrievedfrom: https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/ PMC2910322/#R36 2. Coogan, P. F., Rosenberg, L., Palmer, J. R., Strom, B. L., Zauber, A. G., & Shapiro, S. (2002, May). Statin use and the risk of breast and prostate cancer. Retrieved from: https:// pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/11964926/. 3. Kochhar, R., Khurana, V., Bejjanki, H., Caldito, G., & Fort, C. (2005, June 1). 4. Statins to reduce breast cancer risk: A case control study in U.S. female veterans. Journal of Clinical Oncology. Retrieved from: scopubs.org/doi/abs/10.1200/jco.2005.23.16_suppl.514. 5. Platz, E. A., Leitzmann, M. F., Visvanathan, K., Rimm, E. B., Stampfer, M. J., Willett, W. C., & Giovannucci, E. (2006, December 20). Statin drugs and risk of advanced prostate cancer. 6. Retrieved from: https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih. gov/17179483/. 7. Singh, H., Mahmud, S., Turner, D., Xue, L., Demers, A., & Berstein, C. (2009, December). Long-Term Use of Statins and Risk of Colorectal Cancer: A population-Based Study. Retrieved from: https://insights.ovid.com/pubmed?pmid=19809413.

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