LANCET: conflicting ideas on statins and cancer Jun 11, 2004
Conflicting ideas on statins and cancer
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New Orleans, LA and Lausanne, Switzerland - There have been
conflicting reports this week on the role of statins and the
development of cancer.
A case control study presented during the American Society
of Clinical Oncology (ASCO) meeting held earlier this week
in New Orleans suggested that statins may prevent colorectal
cancer, but a letter in the June 12, 2004 issue of the
Lancet raises the idea that statins could actually trigger
some types of cancer as well as autoimmune disease.
A 51% reduction in the risk of colorectal cancer The case
control study, presented at ASCO by Dr Stephen Gruber
(University of Michigan, Ann Arbor), involved 1849 Israeli
colorectal cancer patients (cases) and 1959 healthy controls
matched for age, gender, and ethnic origins. The use of
statins for at least five years was associated with a 51%
reduction in the risk of colorectal cancer, with statins
being used by 11.3% of controls and 5.8% of cases.
Gruber commented: "These observational data suggest that
statins deserve further investigation in chemoprevention and
therapeutic clinical trials." He added that the use of
nonstatin cholesterol-lowering agents was not associated
with reduced risk of colorectal cancer, suggesting that the
protective effect was due to the statins rather than to the
reduction in cholesterol. Gruber also noted that statins
inhibit RAS and RhoA, two proteins that are potentially
carcinogenic.
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Inhibition of selenoprotein However, in a letter in this
week's Lancet, Dr Bernard Noël (Centre Hospitalier
Universitaire Vaudois, Lausanne, Switzerland) puts across a
very different view.[1]
He notes that a previous article in the Lancet has suggested
that myopathy and some other side effects of statins might
be attributable to inhibition of selenoprotein synthesis.
He further points out that selenoprotein inhibition might
heighten the risk of prostate and colon cancer and also
trigger autoimmune diseases, more than 20 cases of which
have been reported in patients treated with statins.
"Further studies are, therefore, warranted to determine the
long-term safety of these lipid-lowering agents," he
concludes.
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Related links
1. Statins may lower cancer risk [HeartWire > News;
Jun 3, 2003 ]
2. No increased risk of cancer with statins [HeartWire >
News; Jun 14, 2001 ] Sources
3. Noël B. Autoimmune disease and other potential side-
effects [correspondence]. Lancet 2004; 363:2000.