(Ivanhoe Newswire) -- They've been hailed as miracle drugs for the heart,
but statins aren't getting rave reviews when it comes to cancer prevention.
A new study conducted in mice suggests these drugs, which lower cholesterol,
have little or no effect on warding off breast cancer. Mice in the study were
given two different statins, atorvastatin and lovastatin, in their regular
diets. Neither led to a lower rate of breast cancer.
The researchers also compared the mice that were given statins to those who
received tamoxifen or bexarotene, drugs known to help prevent breast cancer.
Those mice were less likely to develop the disease. Adding atorvastatin to the
tamoxifen or bexarotene regimens did not improve the results.
The authors note the mice in this study took the statins by mouth, which could
be why these findings don't support earlier work suggesting statins might have a
protective effect. "Prior studies have shown some, but limited, efficacy in
breast cancer models when these drugs were given through a method that would be
the equivalent of intravenously in humans," study author Ronald Lubet, Ph.D., an
National Cancer Institute program director, was quoted as saying. "However, that
is not the way people take statins."
He stops short of concluding statins have no role in breast cancer prevention,
however. "There is always the question of whether there will be a subset of
breast cancer where this class of agents will be effective, but the answer at
this point is that the present preclinical studies do not support the use of
statins as general breast cancer preventive agents."
SOURCE: Cancer Prevention Research, published online February 5, 2009
