Health News
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Health News
A byproduct of cholesterol that acts like estrogen explains the link between high cholesterol and breast cancer
The link between high cholesterol and breast cancer can now be explained.
It is not the cholesterol itself, but a "byproduct of cholesterol (that) functions like the hormone estrogen to fuel the growth and spread of the most common types of breast cancer," researchers at the Duke University Cancer Institute report, according to Newswise.
Estrogen is known to "feed an estimated 75 percent of all breast cancers," Newswise reports. So basically, cholesterol creates a "byproduct" that acts like estrogen and "feeds" the breast cancer, the researches concluded.
This is the first time a link between high cholesterol and breast cancer has been explained, especially in post-menopausal women, according to the study, which also suggests that changes in diet or taking statins and other medication to reduce cholesterol may offer "simple ways to reduce breast cancer risk," Newswise reports.
Although studies have shown a connection between obesity and breast cancer, as well as high cholesterol and breast cancer, the reason for these connections had not been explained, said senior author Donald McDonnell, chair of the Department of Pharmacology and Cancer Biology at Duke: ?What we have now found is a molecule ? not cholesterol itself, but an abundant metabolite of cholesterol, called 27HC ? that mimics the hormone estrogen and can independently drive the growth of breast cancer.?
The researchers also found that the more enzyme that makes the cholesterol byproduct that is present, the more aggressive the tumor.
It is not the cholesterol itself, but a "byproduct of cholesterol (that) functions like the hormone estrogen to fuel the growth and spread of the most common types of breast cancer," researchers at the Duke University Cancer Institute report, according to Newswise.
Estrogen is known to "feed an estimated 75 percent of all breast cancers," Newswise reports. So basically, cholesterol creates a "byproduct" that acts like estrogen and "feeds" the breast cancer, the researches concluded.
This is the first time a link between high cholesterol and breast cancer has been explained, especially in post-menopausal women, according to the study, which also suggests that changes in diet or taking statins and other medication to reduce cholesterol may offer "simple ways to reduce breast cancer risk," Newswise reports.
Although studies have shown a connection between obesity and breast cancer, as well as high cholesterol and breast cancer, the reason for these connections had not been explained, said senior author Donald McDonnell, chair of the Department of Pharmacology and Cancer Biology at Duke: ?What we have now found is a molecule ? not cholesterol itself, but an abundant metabolite of cholesterol, called 27HC ? that mimics the hormone estrogen and can independently drive the growth of breast cancer.?
The researchers also found that the more enzyme that makes the cholesterol byproduct that is present, the more aggressive the tumor.
When test animals took anti-estrogen drugs such as tamoxifen, or when they quit receiving the cholesterol byproduct, the cancer was inhibited, according to Newswise.
Nelson said in the article that there was also a potential association between the cholesterol byproduct and the development of resistance to the anti-estrogen tamoxifen. Data also suggest the cholesterol byproduct may reduce the effectiveness of commonly used breast cancer therapies.
These findings suggest that women who have breast cancer and high cholesterol who take statins will have increased benefit, Newswise reports, because it will decrease their resistance to commonly used breast cancer therapies.
Further research will "include clinical studies to verify the suggested potential outcomes and to determine if this cholesterol byproduct plays a role in other cancers," McDonnel said.
- Breast Cancer Awareness: Testing Urged, Guidelines Explained, Misconceptions Explored
Women with BRCA1 and BRCA2, the genes most commonly involved in breast cancer, have up to an 80 percent chance of getting the disease.October is Breast Cancer Awareness Month. Although Kentucky's breast cancer rate is slightly lower than the nationwide...
- Losing Just A Little Weight Can Reduce The Risk Of Cancer
Losing even just a little weight ? just 5 to 10 percent of total body mass ? can help reduce the risk of getting common types of cancer, the National Cancer Institute has found. That's an important fact for Kentucky, which has high obesity and cancer...
- The Benefits Of Aspirin After Breast Cancer
By Deb Kirkland, RN, BSN, MPH Nurse Navigator, Herman & Walter Samuelson Breast Center at Northwest Hospital A study conducted at Brigham and Women?s Hospital and Harvard Medical School, ?Aspirin Intake and Survival After Breast Cancer,? suggests...
- Breast Cancer Treatments Discussed In Teleconference
by Holly Hosler To learn about the latest research on treatments for breast cancer, a group of 25 LifeBridge Health doctors, nurses and technicians joined over 675 others around the country for the Living Beyond Breast Cancer?s San Antonio Breast Cancer...
- Cases Of Breast Cancer Among Younger Women Rising
By Deb Kirkland, RN, BSN, MPH Nurse Navigator, Herman & Walter Samuelson Breast Center at Northwest Hospital This year over 200,000 women in the United States will be diagnosed with breast cancer, and of those 11,000 will be under the age of 40. This...