WASHINGTON - Test subjects who used cholesterol-lowering drugs known as statins for five years cut by nearly half their risk of developing colon cancer, according to a study in the May 26 New England Journal of Medicine.
The cancer rate dropped even when the subjects had a family history of cancer or other risk factors, said researchers at the University of Michigan Comprehensive Cancer Center, who ran the test.
Statins, found in popular cholesterol lowering drugs such as Lipitor, Pravachol or Zocor, have also been shown to be effective at preventing cardiovascular disease.
The research "helps bring together evidence that statins may have the potential to prevent chronic diseases other than heart disease, and helps us consider ways to study these powerful drugs for more than one purpose," says study author Stephen Gruber at the University of Michigan Medical School.
In the study researchers analyzed 1,953 people with colorectal cancer and 2,015 control subjects who did not have colon cancer. Participants were asked to recall every medication they had used for at least five years.
Statin use was determined based on questions and validated against prescription records, according to the study.
Researchers admit they do not known why statins help protect patients against cancer.
"Statins also have anti-inflammatory properties that might be relevant for cancer. That may explain why they appear to work in other cancers besides colon cancer," says study lead author Jenny Poynter, a graduate student in the University of Michigan School of Public Health.
However, researchers caution that people should not begin taking statins to prevent cancer.
"We are now working to identify those groups who are likely to benefit most," said Gruber.
In the United States some 105,000 people will likely be diagnosed with colon cancer in 2005 and some 56,000 will die from the disease, according to the American Cancer Society.
05/25/2005 23:37 GMT