PHILADELPHIA — The use of statins among a group of postmenopausal women did not reduce the risk for colorectal cancer, according to the results of a prospective analysis of data from the large population-based Women’s Health Initiative (WHI).
“The results of our study are consistent with the majority of the literature suggesting no significant reduction in colorectal cancer risk among users of statins,” said Michael S. Simon, M.D., professor of oncology in the department of oncology at Wayne State University and Barbara Ann Karmanos Cancer Institute, Detroit.
Simon presented these study results at the Ninth Annual AACR Frontiers in Cancer Prevention Research Conference, held here from Nov. 7-10, 2010.
According to Simon, the results from several case-control studies have shown a moderate reduction in colorectal cancer risk in people who use statins. However, a majority of the literature researching the association, including data from randomized controlled trials and cohort studies, show no association between statin use and reduced colorectal cancer risk.
“Colorectal cancer is the third leading cause of cancer incidence and death in the United States,” he said. “While regular screening has been shown to be effective in decreasing mortality, the majority of the population receives no screening, or inadequate screening, which supports the need to focus on chemoprevention to lower death rates.”
One method of colorectal cancer chemoprevention being researched is the use of statins. In this study, Simon and colleagues used data from the WHI to determine if there was a link between colorectal cancer prevention and statins. The study included 159,219 postmenopausal women aged 50 to 79 years. There were 2,000 cases of colorectal cancer identified during an average of 10 years of follow-up.
Women participating in the study were asked to bring all medications to their screening interviews and the use of any statin, or other lipid-lowering medication, was entered into the WHI database. About 8 percent of women in the study were using statins.
The yearly rate of colorectal cancer did not differ between women taking statins and those not taking statins. There was also no difference in risk for colorectal cancer based on the duration of statin use, type of statin, statin potency or use of other lipid-lowering medications. In addition, the researchers identified no link between statin use and tumor location, stage, grade or histology.
According to Simon though, the effect of statins on colorectal cancer risk deserves some additional study in certain patient populations.
“A recent study suggested a possible greater effect of statins in reducing both cardiovascular and colorectal cancer risk among individuals with a genetic variation of the enzyme inhibited by statins,” he said. “This finding suggests that future studies should focus on individuals at high risk based on family history or genetic predisposition.”
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The mission of the American Association for Cancer Research is to prevent and cure cancer. Founded in 1907, the AACR is the world’s oldest and largest professional organization dedicated to advancing cancer research. The membership includes 32,000 basic, translational and clinical researchers; health care professionals; and cancer survivors and advocates in the United States and more than 90 other countries. The AACR marshals the full spectrum of expertise from the cancer community to accelerate progress in the prevention, diagnosis and treatment of cancer through high-quality scientific and educational programs. It funds innovative, meritorious research grants, research fellowships and career development awards. The AACR Annual Meeting attracts more than 18,000 participants who share the latest discoveries and developments in the field. Special conferences throughout the year present novel data across a wide variety of topics in cancer research, treatment and patient care. Including Cancer Discovery, the AACR publishes seven major peer-reviewed journals: Cancer Research; Clinical Cancer Research; Molecular Cancer Therapeutics; Molecular Cancer Research; Cancer Epidemiology, Biomarkers & Prevention; and Cancer Prevention Research. AACR journals represented 20 percent of the market share of total citations in 2009. The AACR also publishes CR, a magazine for cancer survivors and their families, patient advocates, physicians and scientists.
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