Gabe Mirkin, M.D.
A team from Boston's Children Hospital found that high
cholesterol levels cause prostate cancer cells in mice to grow
and that cholesterol-lowering statin drugs inhibit prostate cancer
growth (Journal of Clinical Investigation March, 2005.)
Researchers injected human prostate cancer cells into mice.
Animals fed high cholesterol diets had cholesterol accumulate in
the outer membranes of tumors. Six weeks after tumor cells
were injected, mice on the high-cholesterol diet had larger
tumors and twice as many of them compared to those on a low-
cholesterol diet. When mice on a high-cholesterol diet were
given statin drugs to lower cholesterol, the tumors stopped
growing. We do not know if these results apply to humans, but
this study suggests one more reason to control your cholesterol.
10/30/05