The Role of Statins in the Prevention of Ovarian and Endometrial Cancers

Abstract

Ovarian and endometrial cancers are the most common gynecologic malignancies and emerging evidence suggests that lipid metabolism and subsequent inflammation are important etiologic factors for both tumors. Statins (HMG-CoA reductase inhibitors) are the most widely prescribed lipid-lowering drugs in the United States and are used by 25% of adults aged 40+ years. In addition to their cardio-protective actions, statins have anti-inflammatory effects and have demonstrated antiproliferative and apoptotic properties in cancer cell lines, supporting a potential role in cancer prevention. To appropriately quantify potential public health impact of statin use for cancer prevention, there is a great need to understand the potential risk reduction among individuals at a higher risk of gynecologic cancers, the group that will likely need to be targeted to effectively balance risk/benefit of medications repurposed for cancer prevention. In this commentary, we focus on summarizing emerging evidence suggesting that the anti-inflammatory and lipid-lowering mechanisms of statins may provide important cancer-preventive benefits for gynecologic cancers as well as outline important unanswered questions and future research directions.

Figure 1.

Overview of timeline of statin use in the United States.

Figure 2.

Schematic of statin inhibition of mevalonate pathway and possible downstream effects related to reduced mevalonate pathway metabolism.