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Michael Zelefsky, M.D.
Memorial Sloan-Kettering Cancer Center

LOS ANGELES, Oct. 30 — Statins may lower the risk of biochemical relapse after external radiotherapy for prostate cancer, said a researcher here.

In a retrospective analysis of nearly 900 patients treated with high-dose radiation, those taking statins were significantly less likely (P=0.001) to relapse five and 10 years later, said Michael Zelefsky, M.D., of Memorial Sloan-Kettering Cancer Center in New York.Action Points
Note that this study suggests that statins may also benefit patients treated with radiotherapy for prostate cancer, but caution patients that the study was retrospective and would need verification with a prospective, controlled, randomized study.

This study was published as an abstract and presented orally at a conference. These data and conclusions should be considered to be preliminary as they have not yet been reviewed and published in a peer-reviewed publication.

Men on statins tended to be less likely to have distant metastases, Dr. Zelefsky said at the American Society for Therapeutic Radiation and Oncology meeting.

“We were surprised by the findings that statins — used by these patients for other conditions — were shown to improve the effectiveness of radiation treatment in killing prostate cancer cells,” Dr. Zelefsky said.

It’s not the first time that statins have been said to reduce cancer risks. Researchers have also suggested that the drugs may reduce the risk of lung, breast, and other malignancies. (See: Statins May Lower Lung Cancer Risk)

So far, none of the associations found has been confirmed in prospective clinical trials.

In the current study, Dr. Zelefsky and colleagues looked at records of 871 men with prostate cancer, treated with a median dose of 81 Gray of radiation between January 1995 and July 2000.

Of those, 168 were taking a statin during the radiotherapy and none stopped their medication during treatment, he said.

Using a renewed rise in prostate specific antigen as a marker for the return of the cancer, the researchers found that 76% of those taking a statin had not relapsed a decade after treatment, compared with 66% of those not taking one of the drugs.

The same 10 percentage point difference — 91% versus 81% — was also seen at five years, he said, and was significant at P=0.001.

There was also a trend toward a lower incidence of distant metastases for those men on a statin, although it did not reach statistical significance (P=0.06).

The study also showed that a Gleason score of less than 7 and a clinical stage of either T1 or T2 were significantly associated (both at P
Primary source: International Journal of Radiation Oncology * Biology * Physics
Source reference:
Shippy AM, et al “Statin use and Clinical Outcomes After High Dose Radiotherapy for Prostate Cancer” Int J Rad Onc 2007; 69(3) Supplement S:S113.

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This entry was posted on Monday, April 30th, 2007 at 8:10 pm and is filed under Cancer Prevention, Improvement, News. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.