An interesting article relating statins in preventing cancer. Read on and find out:
The cholesterol-lowering drugs known as statins may also help in decreasing the risk of breast cancer and even in treating some types of the disease.
The new findings are based on a lab study conducted on the role of a specific mutation in a tumor suppressor gene called p53 malfunction of which is linked with breast cancer development.
The gene normally controls and regulates the growth of new cells and stops the uncontrolled growth of cancer cells.
More than half of all human cancers carry mutations in the p53 gene, which usually may not affect its normal function. In people with certain types of mutated p53, the cell proliferation control does not function well and leads to erratic and more invasive growth of cancer cells.
In the new study led by Dr. Carol Prives of Columbia University, when the mutant p53 cells were treated in the laboratory with statins, the cells stopped their erratic growth, and even died in some cases.
Researchers suggested that the mutated p53 genes may activate the same pathway that the statins inhibit. The mevalonate pathway has a crucial role in the body's production of cholesterol, says the report published in the journal Cell.
“The study is adding the possibility that there may be classes of breast cancer patients who will respond better to statins than others,” said Prives who emphasized that the study is preliminary and far from a clinical trial.
“By understanding better what sort of cells would respond to statins, one might have a better idea of whether or not to consider using them,” she added. “The next step could be a trial of statins in women with breast cancer who have a mutated copy of the p53 gene.”
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