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Statin choice for preventing cancer recurrence

Posted by freebird40r @freebird40r, Nov 8, 2022

Which statin would be safest and most effective? Blood cholesterol is 256. I take Verapamil which can interact with some statins. However I am just completing treatment for ER+ PR+ HER- stage 2 Grade 3 Breast Cancer. I have discovered that there are studies that indicate a possible benefit to using some statins to prevent recurrance. Of course the statins shown to be most effective for breast cancer survivors are also those most likely to have adverse reactions with Verapamil use. What doctors are best versed in this scenario?

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drummergirl | @drummergirl | Nov 12, 2022
In reply to @leolion811 "I just finished treatment for my reoccurrence of TNBC, is there anything written from MD Anderson..." + (show)
@leolion811

I just finished treatment for my reoccurrence of TNBC, is there anything written from MD Anderson about statins. I take the generic Crestor and Zetia. Thank you.

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They say it has to be a lipophilic statin from what I have read and it is also stated in the MD Anderson article.
I was blocked from posting the link, but I think you will find it if you Google MD Anderson, statin use for breast cancer

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2 replies
leolion811 | @leolion811 | Nov 13, 2022

A study led by researchers from The University of Texas MD Anderson Cancer Center found a significant association between cholesterol-lowering drugs commonly known as statins and survival rates of triple-negative breast cancer patients. Since statins are low in cost, easy to access and produce minimal side effects, this could have an important impact on outcomes for this aggressive disease.

The study, led by Kevin Nead, M.D., assistant professor of Epidemiology, was published today in Cancer. This research extends the current knowledge of the association between statin use and triple-negative breast cancer (TNBC), and it is the first study that was adequately powered to investigate the association of statins and aggressive breast cancer subtypes.

Researchers found a 58% relative improvement in breast cancer-specific survival and a 30% relative improvement in overall survival with statin use. The median follow-up was 3.3 years for breast cancer-specific survival and 4.4 years for overall survival.

“There is already a body of literature on statins and breast cancer and the results have been inconsistent,” Nead said. “Previous research has looked at breast cancer as only one disease, but we know there are many subtypes of breast cancer and we wanted to focus our research on this particularly aggressive form of breast cancer that has limited effective treatment options.”

TNBC is an aggressive disease that makes up roughly 10% to 20% of breast cancer diagnoses. Triple-negative means that the breast cancer doesn’t have estrogen or progesterone receptors or HER2 positivity, which are the three most common receptors for breast cancer. This combination results in a highly aggressive breast cancer with poor prognosis and limited treatment options since there are few receptors to actively target with existing therapies.

The retrospective study selected patients included in the Surveillance, Epidemiology, and End Results (SEER)-Medicare registry and the Texas Cancer Registry (TCR)-Medicare, two large databases of administrative claims of Medicare-eligible patients. Patients were required to have Medicare Part D prescription coverage to determine their statin use.

The research included data from 23,192 women over age 66 with stage I-III breast cancer. From that patient cohort, 2,281 were incidental statin users, meaning they started a statin within one year following their breast cancer diagnosis. The incidental statin users were 78.1% white, 8.9% Black, 8.4% Hispanic and 4.5% other.

Analysis by breast cancer stage suggested that the association of incidental statin use with improved outcomes may be stronger in women with early stage TNBC. When examining statin intensity, high-intensity statin use had the strongest effect on overall survival among women with TNBC. Researchers also found a statistically significant association between lipophilic statins (L-statin: simvastatin, atorvastatin, lovastatin, fluvastatin, pitavastatin) and improved overall survival.

“We know that statins decrease breast cancer cell division and increase cell death,” Nead said. “Our study shows that there is an association between statins and improved outcomes in TNBC, and it is time to pursue this idea further in a prospective trial.”

Prospective trials are needed to validate these study results and to better define the potential role of statins in TNBC treatment.

A full list of co-authors and their disclosures can be found here. This research was supported by the National Institutes of Health CCSG (P30 CA016672). Additional support was provided by the Cancer Prevention Research Institute of Texas (CPRIT) (RR190077) (FP9178) (RP160674) and Komen (SAC150061).

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1 reply
leolion811 | @leolion811 | Nov 13, 2022
In reply to @drummergirl "They say it has to be a lipophilic statin from what I have read and it..." + (show)
@drummergirl

They say it has to be a lipophilic statin from what I have read and it is also stated in the MD Anderson article.
I was blocked from posting the link, but I think you will find it if you Google MD Anderson, statin use for breast cancer

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I posted the article from MD Anderson ( copy and paste worked)

REPLY
leolion811 | @leolion811 | Nov 13, 2022
In reply to @leolion811 "A study led by researchers from The University of Texas MD Anderson Cancer Center found a..." + (show)
@leolion811

A study led by researchers from The University of Texas MD Anderson Cancer Center found a significant association between cholesterol-lowering drugs commonly known as statins and survival rates of triple-negative breast cancer patients. Since statins are low in cost, easy to access and produce minimal side effects, this could have an important impact on outcomes for this aggressive disease.

The study, led by Kevin Nead, M.D., assistant professor of Epidemiology, was published today in Cancer. This research extends the current knowledge of the association between statin use and triple-negative breast cancer (TNBC), and it is the first study that was adequately powered to investigate the association of statins and aggressive breast cancer subtypes.

Researchers found a 58% relative improvement in breast cancer-specific survival and a 30% relative improvement in overall survival with statin use. The median follow-up was 3.3 years for breast cancer-specific survival and 4.4 years for overall survival.

“There is already a body of literature on statins and breast cancer and the results have been inconsistent,” Nead said. “Previous research has looked at breast cancer as only one disease, but we know there are many subtypes of breast cancer and we wanted to focus our research on this particularly aggressive form of breast cancer that has limited effective treatment options.”

TNBC is an aggressive disease that makes up roughly 10% to 20% of breast cancer diagnoses. Triple-negative means that the breast cancer doesn’t have estrogen or progesterone receptors or HER2 positivity, which are the three most common receptors for breast cancer. This combination results in a highly aggressive breast cancer with poor prognosis and limited treatment options since there are few receptors to actively target with existing therapies.

The retrospective study selected patients included in the Surveillance, Epidemiology, and End Results (SEER)-Medicare registry and the Texas Cancer Registry (TCR)-Medicare, two large databases of administrative claims of Medicare-eligible patients. Patients were required to have Medicare Part D prescription coverage to determine their statin use.

The research included data from 23,192 women over age 66 with stage I-III breast cancer. From that patient cohort, 2,281 were incidental statin users, meaning they started a statin within one year following their breast cancer diagnosis. The incidental statin users were 78.1% white, 8.9% Black, 8.4% Hispanic and 4.5% other.

Analysis by breast cancer stage suggested that the association of incidental statin use with improved outcomes may be stronger in women with early stage TNBC. When examining statin intensity, high-intensity statin use had the strongest effect on overall survival among women with TNBC. Researchers also found a statistically significant association between lipophilic statins (L-statin: simvastatin, atorvastatin, lovastatin, fluvastatin, pitavastatin) and improved overall survival.

“We know that statins decrease breast cancer cell division and increase cell death,” Nead said. “Our study shows that there is an association between statins and improved outcomes in TNBC, and it is time to pursue this idea further in a prospective trial.”

Prospective trials are needed to validate these study results and to better define the potential role of statins in TNBC treatment.

A full list of co-authors and their disclosures can be found here. This research was supported by the National Institutes of Health CCSG (P30 CA016672). Additional support was provided by the Cancer Prevention Research Institute of Texas (CPRIT) (RR190077) (FP9178) (RP160674) and Komen (SAC150061).

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It looks like my statin is not there ( Rosuvavstatin Calcium) generic for Crestor (40 mg). Do you think I should ask my doctor to change it? Thanks

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Moderator
Colleen Young, Connect Director | @colleenyoung | Nov 14, 2022
In reply to @drummergirl "They say it has to be a lipophilic statin from what I have read and it..." + (show)
@drummergirl

They say it has to be a lipophilic statin from what I have read and it is also stated in the MD Anderson article.
I was blocked from posting the link, but I think you will find it if you Google MD Anderson, statin use for breast cancer

Jump to this post

@drummergirl, You will be able to add URLs to your posts in a few days. There is a brief period where new members can't post links. We do this to deter spammers and keep the community safe. Clearly the link you wanted to post is not spam. Please allow me to post it for you.

- Statins may improve survival for triple-negative breast cancer patients https://www.mdanderson.org/newsroom/statins-may-improve-survival-for-triple-negative-breast-cancer-patients.h00-159462423.html

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