: Researchers Find Direct Link between High Cholesterol and Prostate Cancer

[Guest guest]

Source: European Society for Medical Oncology

 

Posted: April 12, 2006

 

 

 

 

New Research Finds Direct Link Between High Cholesterol And Prostate

Cancer

 

Researchers from Italy have found what they believe to be the first

direct link between high cholesterol levels and prostate cancer.

 

A possible association has been suggested before but evidence has been

limited. This new study, published on-line (Wednesday 12 April) in

Annals of Oncology[1] shows a statistically significant direct

relationship between the two conditions.

 

Lead author Dr Francesca Bravi, an epidemiologist from the Istituto di

Ricerche Farmacologiche Mario Negri in Milan, said: "Although the

study relied on participants' self-reported medical conditions, the

absence of an association between prostate cancer and about 10 other

medical conditions we investigated indicates that the relationship we

found between prostate cancer and high cholesterol appears to be a

real one."

 

The research team worked on data from a case-control study carried out

in four Italian areas between 1991 and 2002, involving 1,294 men under

age 75 with prostate cancer and 1,451 matched controls admitted to the

same hospitals with acute non-cancerous conditions.

 

All cases and controls were interviewed in hospital by trained

interviewers using wide-ranging structured questionnaires. These

included a problem-oriented section on patients' medical history

covering about 10 non-cancerous conditions, including

hypercholesterolaemia (high cholesterol) and gallstones.

 

Dr Bravi said: "We found that, after allowing for any potential

confounding factors, men with prostate cancer were around 50% more

likely to have had high cholesterol levels[2] than our non-prostate

cancer controls. The association was somewhat stronger for men whose

high cholesterol levels had been diagnosed before they were 50 and for

men over 65, where there was an 80% greater likelihood of high

cholesterol levels. We also found that prostate cancer patients were

26% more likely to have suffered from gallstones than our controls,

with an apparently higher relationship in thinner men. Although that

figure was not statistically significant, gallstones are often related

to high cholesterol levels. To our knowledge there have been no

previous studies reporting any relationship between gallstones and

prostate cancer."

 

Co-author Dr Cristina Bosetti, a senior epidemiologist and

biostatistician at the same institute, explained: "Androgens --

hormones that have a role in prostate tissue and cancer -- are

synthesised from cholesterol, suggesting a possible biological

relationship between high cholesterol and prostate cancer. Gallstones

are related to high cholesterol levels as well and are often composed

of cholesterol. So, the direct relationship we found between

gallstones and prostate cancer, while it was not statistically

significant, suggests a similar biological mechanism may explain the

link."

 

This study had relied on participant's self-reporting medical

conditions: the researchers believe that their results should be

confirmed by further studies, including prospective investigations

with reliable measured cholesterol levels.

 

Dr Bosetti concluded: "There are some laboratory data suggesting

statins may have preventive potential against prostate cancer and our

results do give an indirect suggestion that statins may help in

lowering prostate cancer risk. However, studies to date on

cholesterol-lowering statins and prostate cancer have been limited and

inconclusive."

###

 

[1] Self-reported history of hypercholesterolaemia and gallstones and

the risk of prostate cancer. Annals of Oncology.

doi:10.1093/annonc/mdi080.

 

[2] Hypercholesterolaemia (high cholesterol levels): In this study

hypercholesterolaemia was classified as any cholesterol over the

normal level (>200 mg/dl or approximately 5 mmol/l).

[Guest guest]

unfortunately a link is not a cause, something that the medicos consistently

confuse but its great media hype for big pharma - we are getting closer to the

polypill every day.

the old axiom, "when all you have is a hammer everything looks like a nail"

applies here very well.

 

best... todd caldecott

 

> New Research Finds Direct Link Between High Cholesterol And Prostate Cancer