A study has found that heart drugs ‘statins’ almost halve the risk of developing prostate cancer and reduce the risk of dying from the cancer by about two-thirds. The study presented at the conference of the American Urological Association, showed growing evidence that statins prevented cancer cells from dividing, and may even cause some cancer cells to die.
Prostate cancer is the second leading cause of cancer death worldwide. The study shoed that use of statins reduced likelihood of inflammation inside prostate tumours by about 69%.
For the study, the researchers at Duke University Medical Centre examined tissue samples of prostate tumours from 236 men undergoing prostate cancer surgery. The patients included 37 who took statins during the year prior to their surgery.
The findings of the study published in the online edition of the journal Cancer Epidemiology, Biomarkers & Prevention, revealed that 82% of the study participants had inflammatory cells in their prostate tumours and about one-third had marked tumour inflammation. In these participants, statin use was associated with reduced inflammation within tumours.
In a Duke news release, lead author Dr. Lionel Banez, an assistant professor of surgery and urology, said: “Increasing evidence suggests that statins may reduce risk of prostate cancer progression, and some studies have even suggested that widespread statin use over the past 15 years has contributed to a decline in prostate cancer mortality.” He however cautioned that these positive study findings do not indicate the use of statins by all men having the cancer. Study senior author Dr. Stephen Freedland, an associate professor of urology and pathology at the Duke Prostate Cancer Centre said, “More studies have to be done before such a recommendation can be made. However, men taking statins for heart health may already be enjoying a beneficial side effect against prostate cancer.”
Written by Snigdha taduri for Biomed-ME