Can statins make radiation more effective?

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Prostate cancer patients who receive high-dose radiation therapy and also take statin drugs usually used to lower cholesterol have a 10 percent higher chance of being cured of their cancer at 10 years after diagnosis (76 percent), in comparison to those who dont take these medications (66 percent), as per a research studypresented at a scientific session October 31, 2007, at the American Society for Therapeutic Radiology and Oncologys 49th Annual Meeting in Los Angeles.

The study demonstrated that the greatest benefit of statin medications was observed in patients who had more aggressive or advanced forms of prostate cancer. The research also showed that men who took statins during high-dose radiation treatment had a lower rate of the cancer spreading to distant parts of the body.

We were, indeed, surprised by the findings that statins used by these patients for other conditions was shown to improve the effectiveness of radiation therapy in killing prostate cancer cells, said Michael J. Zelefsky, M.D., the senior author of the study and a radiation oncologist at Memorial Sloan-Kettering Cancer Center in New York. The use of statins during radiation may also be effective in the therapy of other types of cancer. However, more studies are necessary to explore the association between statins and radiation therapy in curing cancers.

The retrospective study involved nearly 900 men treated with high-dose radiation treatment for prostate cancer, some of whom were also taking statin drugs, from January 1995 to July 2000. Statins are a class of drugs used to lower the cholesterol level in people with or at risk of cardiovascular disease.


Posted by: Mark    Source