Statins Help Inflamatory Breast Cancer
Posted 12/6/2012
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Inflammatory breast cancer is a rare (less than 5% of the total) but aggressive form of the disease. It presents, not with a lump or thickening, but by skin changes that resemble in infection.
(IF you are interested in more about this: http://www.cancer.gov/cancertopics/factsheet/Sites-Types/IBC)
Many women are first treated with antibiotics before a cancer worry arises. It is treated much like other kinds of breast cancer, but the research has focused on identifying treatments that may be especially helpful in this form of the disease. This parallels the general trend of targeted therapies and less and less treating breast cancers in the same way.
In San Antonio, this study from UT MD Anderson was just announced with very hopeful news. The study suggests that the addition of statins to treatment improves survival for these women. Here is the beginning and a link to read more from EurekaAlert:
UT MD Anderson study finds link between statins and improved survival in inflammatory breast cancer
Early results show benefit in most dangerous form of disease
HOUSTON - Researchers from The University of Texas MD Anderson Cancer Center found statins, the commonly used drug to lower cholesterol, improved progression-free survival in patients with inflammatory breast cancer (IBC).
The retrospective study was presented today in a poster discussion at the 2012 CTRC-AACR San Antonio Breast Cancer Symposium and follows a previously reported Danish study indicating there is some evidence to suggest the anti-inflammatory properties of statins could reduce the risk of breast cancer recurrence. Still, the overall effects of statins have not been examined in relation to IBC.
IBC is a rare type of breast cancer that develops quickly when malignant cells block lymph vessels in the skin and soft tissue. It accounts for only 1-5 percent of all invasive breast cancers, according to the American Cancer Society.
"We decided to take a different approach with the smaller population of inflammatory breast cancer patients and see if it's truly an inflammatory disease, whether or not there's some substantial impact of statin use in this population," said Naoto T. Ueno, M.D., Ph.D., professor in MD Anderson's Department of Breast Medical Oncology and executive director of the Morgan Welch Inflammatory Breast Cancer Research Program and Clinic.
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