12月16日，在线发表在Cancer杂志上一项对新西兰中年男性的研究"Statin use and fatal prostate cancer: A matched case-control study"表明，他汀类药物治疗与前列腺癌造成的死亡率下降具有相关性。人们服用那些药物可能是为了心脏，但是同时对前列腺也有好处。
研究人员Stephen Marcella博士等收集了380名死于前列腺病人的医疗记录，以及380名年龄和种族相匹配的对照组的记录。大多数男性是白种人，平均60多岁，接近25%的病人服用过一种他汀类药物。
研究人员发现，死于前列腺癌的病人比对照组病人服用他汀类药物的可能性减半。调整了体重、并发症和药物后，患致命性前列腺癌的男性服用他汀类药物的可能性降低63%。
但是，Marcella博士补充说，我不会告诉一个人说，如果他没有心脏病的风险，没有高血压的风险，让他们去服用他汀类药物只是为了预防致命性前列腺癌。
Marcella博士的团队还不确定是否服用他汀类药物时间长一些，或者服用药物早一些，会更加有益。他们也不能确定病人是在诊断出侵略性癌症之前还是之后服用他汀类药物。
但是他们确实发现，较新的高效力的他汀类药物与较低的致命性前列腺癌风险有关，低效力药物没有这种作用。表明是某些药物本身具有降低死于前列腺癌的风险。
杜克大学医学中心的Stephen Freedland博士讲到，他汀类药物预防致命性前列腺癌可能是通过降胆固醇作用实现的。胆固醇是癌细胞的关键营养素，所以降低胆固醇水平可以预防癌症的发展。但是也有可能他汀类药物根本不具有预防某些癌症的功能，可能是因为服用他汀类药物的人群改变饮食或者开始锻炼，这些因素导致致命性癌症的风险降低。（生物谷bioon.com）
doi:10.1002/cncr.26720
PMC:
PMID:
Statin use and fatal prostate cancer: A matched case-control study
Marcella SW, David A, Ohman-Strickland PA, Carson J, Rhoads GG.
BACKGROUND:
Statins are some of the most commonly prescribed medications in medical practice, and prostate cancer is the most common malignancy among men. Although there has been no consistent evidence that statins affect cancer incidence, including prostate cancer, several reports suggest they may decrease the rate of advanced prostate cancer. However, no study to date has specifically examined statin use and prostate cancer mortality. The authors conducted this population-based case-control investigation to examine this association.
METHODS:
This was a matched case-control study. Cases were residents of New Jersey ages 55 to 79 years who died from prostate cancer between 1997 and 2000. The cases were matched individually to population-based controls by 5-year age group and race. Medication data were obtained identically for cases and controls from blinded medical chart review. Conditional logistic regression was used to adjust for confounders.
RESULTS:
In total, 718 cases were identified, and cooperation was obtained from 77% of their spouses (N = 553). After a review of medical records, 387 men were eligible, and 380 were matched to a control. The unadjusted odds ratio was 0.49 (95% confidence interval, 0.34-0.70) and decreased to 0.37 (P < .0001) after adjusting for education, waist size, body mass index, comorbidities, and antihypertensive medication. There was little difference between lipophilic and hydrophilic statins, but more risk reduction was noted for high-potency statins (73%; P < .0001) compared with low-potency statins (31%; P = .32).
CONCLUSIONS:
Statin use was associated with substantial protection against prostate cancer death, adding to the epidemiologic evidence for an inhibitory effect on prostate cancer. Cancer 2012;. ? 2011 American Cancer Society.
