Friday, July 28, 2017

Statins in combination with chemotherapy improves survival in ovarian cancer


Women diagnosed with ovarian cancer could survive longer when a statin is added to the treatment regimen, in addition to the cancer-specific treatment says the results of a new research study led by Keele University and published recently in Scientific Reports.

This is in contrast to earlier research studies, in which statins in laboratory studies were effective against ovarian cancer but did not show the same efficacy when tested in real human participants.

Ovarian cancer accounts for only 3 percent of all cancers in women, but it causes more deaths in women than any other reproductive system cancer because it is often diagnosed at a very late stage.




The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) estimate that in 2014, 21,161 women in the U.S. found out that they had ovarian cancer and 14,195 died of the disease.

Dr Alan Richardson, a reader in pharmacology in the School of Pharmacy, who led the research at Keele and co-authored the paper, explained:
“We believe we have found the answer to the paradox: for statins to be effective as a cancer therapy, the right statin needs to be used, it needs to be delivered at the right dose and interval, and diet needs to be controlled to reduce sources of geranylgeraniol, which can limit the statin’s effect on cancer cells.”

The researchers at Keele University have identified a particular statin called pitavastatin, which has a long metabolic half-life, necessary for continuous inhibition of tumor growth. It was also seen that diet affects the action of pitavastatin on tumor cells.

The apoptosis of ovarian cancer cells was inhibited in the presence of dietary geranylgeraniol. Geranylgeraniol is present in various foods like sunflower seeds and some varieties of rice.

Statins have shown to be effective in other cancers also. In fact, Pitavastatin was effective in killing cancer cells, even after they have developed drug resistance. This raises the possibility that statins may be useful to treat patients who have developed resistance to chemotherapy.

The inhibitory effect of dietary geranylgeraniol on actions of pitavastatin may explain the discrepancies observed in efficacy of the drug between pre-clincal lab studies and human studies.

The next stage of research is to conduct full clinical trials in humans. Dr Richardson is already planning clinical trials at Keele University. He commented “The key message of our work is that clinical trials of pitavastatin can now be properly designed, and we are in the very early stages of developing trials with our colleagues at Keele University and Birmingham University. It is also noteworthy that pitavastatin is available in a generic form, potentially making this a relatively inexpensive treatment.”

The research also opens new possibilities for use of statins to prevent ovarian cancer. The use of statins in reducing morbidity and mortality in CVDs is well documented. Further targeted clinical trials are needed before it can be clinically prescribed as anticancer.

The Keele University press release can be accessed here.
Full text of the article in Scientific Reports can be accessed here.



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