Statins could save thousands with deadliest breast cancer
WOMEN with the deadliest breast cancers could be offered a lifeline by statins, say scientists.
The cholesterol-busting drugs starve diseased cells of proteins and have cut death rates by up to 58 per cent.
Research found the medication was most effective in patients with triple negative breast cancer.
This is the most aggressive and difficult to treat with some 8,000 patients diagnosed in the UK each year.
Statins, which cost only a few pence each, are already used by six million Britons to tackle heart disease.
Report author Dr Kevin Nead, a cancer epidemiologist at University of Texas, said: “There is already a body of literature on statins and breast cancer and results have been inconsistent.
“Previous research looked at breast cancer as only one disease, but we know there are many sub-types. We wanted to focus on this particularly aggressive form that has limited effective treatment options.”
The participants were tracked for an average of four and a half years.
Around 10 per cent, all over the age of 66, had been prescribed statins within a year of diagnosis.
Higher doses provided the biggest benefit for those with triple negative breast cancer. Lipophilic statins were the most effective – including simvastatin, atorvastatin, lovastatin, fluvastatin and pitavastatin.
Lab experiments have shown they stop cancer cells growing and dividing – and ramp up the immune system.
Dr Nead explained this was crucial in boosting chances of beating the disease. He added: “We know statins decrease breast cancer cell division and increase cell death.
“Our study shows there is an association between statins and improved outcomes in triple negative breast cancer, and it is time to pursue this idea further in a prospective trial.”
About 15 per cent of all breast cancers are triple negative and are often found in younger premenopausal women.
It claims the lives of around 1,650 women in the UK every year – one in 10 breast cancer deaths.
Other forms are fuelled by oestrogen and progesterone and mostly occur in those aged over 50. They can be destroyed by hormonal drugs.
The findings, which were published in the journal Cancer, were based on 23,192 women in the US with stage one to three breast cancer.
But statins have been controversial and blamed for side effects including muscle pain, fatigue and mental fog.