• Statins may improve survival for triple-

    From ScienceDaily@1:317/3 to All on Tue Aug 3 21:30:40 2021
    Statins may improve survival for triple-negative breast cancer patients


    Date:
    August 3, 2021
    Source:
    University of Texas M. D. Anderson Cancer Center
    Summary:
    A new study 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.



    FULL STORY ==========================================================================
    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.

    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).

    ========================================================================== Story Source: Materials provided by University_of_Texas_M._D._Anderson_Cancer_Center. Note: Content may be
    edited for style and length.


    ========================================================================== Journal Reference:
    1. Malgorzata K. Nowakowska et al. Association of statin use with
    clinical
    outcomes in patients with triple-negative breast cancer. Cancer,
    2021 DOI: 10.1002/cncr.33797 ==========================================================================

    Link to news story: https://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2021/08/210803105520.htm

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