Statins: a repurposed drug to fight cancer

Journal of Experimental & Clinical Cancer Research

Xu-Ran He¹  Wen Jiang²  Jin-Wei Hu²  Xin-Yang He³  Wei-Lin Jin⁴ 

[1] Department of Finance, The First Affiliated Hospital of University of Science and Technology of China (Anhui Provincial Hospital), 230001, Hefei, P. R. China;Department of General Surgery, The Affiliated Provincial Hospital of Anhui Medical University, 230001, Hefei, P. R. China;Department of General Surgery, The First Affiliated Hospital of University of Science and Technology of China (Anhui Provincial Hospital), 230001, Hefei, P. R. China;Institute of Cancer Neuroscience, Medical Frontier Innovation Research Center, The First Hospital of Lanzhou University, The First Clinical Medical College of Lanzhou University, 730000, Lanzhou, P. R. China;

关键词: Drug repurposing;    Mevalonate pathway;    Statins;    Synergistic antitumor;    Tumor microenvironment;   

DOI  :  10.1186/s13046-021-02041-2

来源: Springer

【 摘 要 】

As competitive HMG-CoA reductase (HMGCR) inhibitors, statins not only reduce cholesterol and improve cardiovascular risk, but also exhibit pleiotropic effects that are independent of their lipid-lowering effects. Among them, the anti-cancer properties of statins have attracted much attention and indicated the potential of statins as repurposed drugs for the treatment of cancer. A large number of clinical and epidemiological studies have described the anticancer properties of statins, but the evidence for anticancer effectiveness of statins is inconsistent. It may be that certain molecular subtypes of cancer are more vulnerable to statin therapy than others. Whether statins have clinical anticancer effects is still an active area of research. Statins appear to enhance the efficacy and address the shortcomings associated with conventional cancer treatments, suggesting that statins should be considered in the context of combined therapies for cancer. Here, we present a comprehensive review of the potential of statins in anti-cancer treatments. We discuss the current understanding of the mechanisms underlying the anti-cancer properties of statins and their effects on different malignancies. We also provide recommendations for the design of future well-designed clinical trials of the anti-cancer efficacy of statins.

【 授权许可】

CC BY