Statins Do Not Protect Against Breast Cancer

NEW YORK (Reuters Health) - Contrary to experimental evidence, the class of cholesterol-lowering drugs known as statins does not appear to reduce the risk of breast cancer, investigators report.

Lab studies have suggested that statins such as Lipitor or Zocor can halt breast cancer by disrupting the cells' cycle and promoting cell death, note Dr. A. Heather Eliassen, from Brigham and Women's Hospital in Boston, and colleagues. The findings from human studies, however, have been inconsistent.

Using data from the Nurses' Health Study, the researchers assessed the occurrence of breast cancer in more than 70,000 women who were cancer-free to begin with and were followed for up to 12 years.

A total of 3177 cases of invasive breast cancer occurred in the study group, the team reports in the Archives of Internal Medicine.

Upon analysis, the researchers found that currently taking a statin drug was not significantly associated with breast cancer risk, nor was the duration of use.

Moreover, women with relatively high cholesterol levels (of 240 or higher) were no more or less likely to develop breast cancer than those with levels below 180.

The new findings suggest that the beneficial effects of statin use noted in experimental studies do not apply to humans, the investigators conclude.

Still, "further study is warranted to evaluate the associations of longer durations of statin use and specific types of statins with breast cancer risk."

SOURCE: Archives of Internal Medicine, October 24, 2005.