Does statin use reduce prostate cancer recurrence?

Statins is a common treatment to lower cholesterol but a study, published online in June 28 in Cancer, found that men taking statins before their prostate surgery were less likely to show signs of the cancer recurring.

The study reviewed the data of 1319 men who had prostatectomy and took statins when they had their operation and showed that they had a 30% lower risk of PSA recurrence compared to those not taking statins. The greater the dose of statins taken, the less likely the cancer was to reappear.

The researchers said if other studies support their findings, a RCT of statins is warranted. However, critics say that the statin users differed significantly from non-users at presentation, eg they were older and had higher BMI that might affect the association between the statin use and risk for biochemical recurrence, also previous studies had mixed findings.

Another study, published in the Journal of Clinical Oncology, with 691 men underwent radiotherapy, showed a significant association between statin use and decreased biochemical recurrence.

Source:
1). Hamilton RJ, Banez LL, Aronson WJ et al. "Results from the Shared Equal Access Regional Cancer Hospital (SEARCH) Database". Cancer, [Early online publication] June 28 2010

2). "Statin Use and Risk of Prostate Cancer Recurrence in Men Treated With Radiation Therapy". Journal of Clinical Oncology, Vol 28, No 16 (June 1), 2010: pp. 2653-2659
Early Release 10.1200/JCO.2009.27.3003 on April 26 2010