Statin Drugs for Mesothelioma?
Continuous administration of atorvastatin did not alter the rate of disease development nor increase the length of time that mice survived.
Raleigh, NC (PRWEB) August 11, 2014
Researchers at the University of Western Australia say statin drugs used to treat high cholesterol are not likely to be of any help against pleural mesothelioma, despite their anti-cancer properties. Click here to read the full story just posted on the Surviving Mesothelioma website.
New data collected by researchers with Australia’s National Center for Asbestos Related Diseases finds that the statin drug, atorvastatin (Lipitor), did not prevent or shrink mesothelioma in either mice or people.
“Continuous administration of atorvastatin did not alter the rate of disease development nor increase the length of time that mice survived,” states the study’s lead author, Dr. Cleo Robinson of the School of Medicine and Pharmacology. “Latency to first symptoms of disease and disease progression were also unaffected.”
The report in PLoS One included the details of a separate study of more than 1,700 asbestos-exposed people that found no reduction in the mesothelioma rate among people on statin drugs.
“Because mesothelioma has such a long latency period, mesothelioma researchers are still hopeful that they will eventually find a drug that can keep it from developing after asbestos exposure,” says Surviving Mesothelioma Managing Editor Alex Strauss. “Unfortunately, it does not look like atorvastatin is that drug.”
To better understand what the new research means for mesothelioma patients and those at risk for the disease, see Cholesterol Drugs Ineffective Against Mesothelioma available now on the Surviving Mesothelioma website.
Robinson, C. et al., “Statins do Not Alter the Incidence of Mesothelioma in Asbestos Exposed Mice or Humans,” August 5, 2014, PLoS One, http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/25093718.
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