Cancer News
Treatment to lower cholesterol could offer hope against colorectal cancer
Several existing drugs provide ready-made approach
Researchers from �eill Cornell �edicine in the �S have found that the production of cholesterol drives the development of precancerous growths called serrated polyps as well as the cancers that later develop from them , hinting at a promising target for treatment .
Cholesterol is a substance the body uses to produce healthy cells , but when it builds up in the arteries it can increase the risk for heart problems . �any types of cholesterol-lowering medications have been available for decades to decrease this risk .
In the new study , researchers focused on mice that had serrated polyps and tumours similar to those seen in humans and demonstrated that stopping cholesterol production prevented their progression .
�Serrated-type polyps and tumors currently are not treated differently from other colorectal neoplasias , but as our work shows , they have this specific metabolic vulnerability that can be targeted , � study co-senior author and professor of oncology �r �orge �oscat of �eill Cornell �edicine said in a press release .
�revious research has already suggested that cholesterol production was associated with certain cancers , including colorectal malignancies . However , it had not been shown that lowering cholesterol with e�isting drugs like statins could also prevent colorectal cancers .
�Trials of statins to prevent colorectal cancer have had con�icting results , � co-author and oncology professor �r �aria �ia�-�eco of �eill Cornell �edicine said in the press release . ��ur findings suggest that this is because targeting cholesterol has a preventive but selective effect only against polyps and tumors of this serrated type . �
Quitting alcohol can reduce cancer risk
No amount of drinking is safe as even a single glass can increase risk
Areview of the available evidence on alcohol consumption and cancer found that people who reduced or stopped drinking could cut their risk of developing oral and oesophageal cancers .
The research was commissioned by the International Agency for �esearch on Cancer , a �orld Health �rgani�ation ( �H� ) body that classifies alcoholic drinks as substances that can contribute to causing several cancers , including oral , oesophageal , colorectal , and breast malignancies .
��ven a single glass per week is sufficient to increase the risk for several types of cancer that are not related to the liver , � �r �ike Cusnir , chief oncologist at �ount Sinai Hospital who was not involved in the review , told CBS News . �In the past , we used to say a single drink of alcohol a day will increase the risk , what we didn ’ t know is that in the patients that �uit completely alcohol , that the risk would go back to the baseline of non-consumers of alcohol beverages . �
The researchers , however , also found gaps in the evidence related to the benefits of �uitting alcohol to reduce the risk of other cancers ( e . g ., liver and colorectum ), such as how long people should �uit before they could achieve reduced risk or how much reduction of consumption was needed to cut cancer risk .
�ore research to close these gaps will provide crucial �evidence on the potential benefits of alcohol reduction or cessation in cancer causation and thus indirectly further support alcohol-control measures to reduce consumption , � they wrote in The New England Journal of Medicine .
22 ISSUE 6 | 2023 GlobalHealthAsiaPacific . com