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Review
. 2023 Jan 4:13:1048484.
doi: 10.3389/fphar.2022.1048484. eCollection 2022.

Advances in ovarian cancer treatment using a combination of statins with other drugs

Lei Xia  1 , Shichao Ding  2 , Xuezhen Wang  3 , Xiaoyu Zhang  3 , Lin Zhu  3 , Hairong Zhang  4 , Huirong Li  4
Affiliations
Review

Advances in ovarian cancer treatment using a combination of statins with other drugs

Lei Xia et al. Front Pharmacol. .

Abstract

New anti-cancer drugs are constantly being developed, especially targeted drugs. Although these drugs have achieved significant clinical efficacy, they do not play a significant role in ovarian cancer. Moreover, the research cycle and costs of such drugs are often huge. The repositioning of conventional drugs has gradually become a concern. Statins, as traditional lipid-lowering drugs, play a role mainly by inhibiting HMGCR. In recent years, epidemiological studies and in vitro experiments have confirmed its anti-cancer effect, especially the effect of anti-ovarian cancer. The mutation rate of TP53 in ovarian cancer is as high as 95%, while HMGCR is often highly expressed in TP53 mutant tumors. However, the effect of prospective clinical trials is not ideal. This result seems understandable considering that it seems unrealistic for a lipid-lowering drug to completely inhibit tumor growth. Therefore, statins play more synergistic roles in the treatment of ovarian cancer. Because ovarian cancer is a highly heterogeneous tumor, it may be a good choice to deeply understand the mechanism of statins in the treatment of ovarian cancer and achieve precise treatment by combining it with other drugs.

Keywords: HMGCoA reductase; ovarian cancer; progress; statins; synergistic effect.

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Conflict of interest statement

The authors declare that the research was conducted in the absence of any commercial or financial relationships that could be construed as a potential conflict of interest.

Figures

FIGURE 1
FIGURE 1
MVA pathway and the related inhibitors.
FIGURE 2
FIGURE 2
Effect of statins on small GTPase and its potential antitumor effects.
FIGURE 3
FIGURE 3
Other potential antitumor effects of statins.
See this image and copyright information in PMC

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