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VIEW ALL NEWSSimvastatin inhibits experimental colon cancer growth
NEW YORK (Reuters Health) - Korean investigators report that simvastatin inhibits colon cancer development by inducing apoptosis and suppressing angiogenesis in mice with experimentally induced tumors, in research conducted at Seoul National University College of Medicine.
Based on their earlier findings on simvastatin's effect on reducing the severity of colitis, Dr. Soo-Jeong Cho and associates studied its effect on signaling in apoptotic pathways in two animal models. One model was colitis-associated colon cancer and the other was a xenograft model of colon cancer.
They first treated two human colon cancer cell lines with simvastatin or vehicle. "In both cell lines, simvastatin caused dose- and time-dependent cell death," Dr. Cho and colleagues report in the August 15 issue of the International Journal of Cancer.
Simvastatin enhanced caspase-3 activity and downregulated the expression of Bcl-2, Bcl-xL, cIAP1 and cFLIP.
Simvastatin significantly reduced tumor development in the colitis-associated colon cancer model. In the xenograft model, simvastatin was associated with significantly smaller tumor volumes, larger necrotic areas, lower expression of VEGF and higher apoptotic scores.
"In conclusion, simvastatin inhibited colon cancer development by induction of apoptosis and suppression of angiogenesis," Dr. Cho and colleagues write. "These results suggest that simvastatin could be a potential chemopreventive and therapeutic agent of colitis-associated colon cancer as well as de novo colon cancer."
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