AACR II: Lipophilic Statins and Ovarian Cancer Mortality
Posted: Wednesday, June 24, 2020
According to Kala Visvanathan, MD, MHS, of Johns Hopkins University, Baltimore, and colleagues, patients with ovarian cancer appear to benefit from treatment with lipophilic statins. The findings, which were presented during the 2020 American Association for Cancer Research (AACR) Virtual Annual Meeting II (Abstract 5782/1), indicated that the use of these common cholesterol-lowering drugs may reduce mortality in such patients.
“Our results provide further evidence in support of the clinical evaluation of lipophilic statins as part of the treatment of ovarian cancer,” Dr. Visvanathan commented in an AACR press release. “These drugs are appealing as they are widely used, inexpensive, and well tolerated in most patients. The associated reduction in ovarian cancer mortality is promising.”
Using clinical data from 10,062 women diagnosed with ovarian cancer between 1995 and 2015, the investigators studied the association between statin use and ovarian cancer mortality. Of the 2,621 statin users, 80% took lipophilic statins. Follow-up data were provided for an average of 4 years.
Ever use of statins seemed to reduce the risk of mortality by 40%, compared with never use. Those being treated with curative intent appeared to derive a greater benefit from statin use than those being treated with palliative intent (hazard ratio = 0.19 vs. 0.41, respectively). Hazard ratios for mortality in women taking atorvastatin or simvastatin were 0.35 and 0.25, respectively. As the lipophilic statin dosage increased, there seemed to be a greater reduction in mortality (P trend = .06).
Among the ovarian cancer subtypes, lipophilic statins produced varying degrees of mortality reduction: high-grade serous carcinoma (hazard ratio = 0.43); endometrioid (hazard ratio = 0.65); clear cell (hazard ratio = 1.02); mucinous (hazard ratio = 0.60); borderline (hazard ratio = 0.30). Additionally, the investigators reported reduced mortality rates in women who initiated treatment with lipophilic statins after diagnosis.
Disclosure: The study authors reported no conflicts of interest.
