Cholesterol lowering drugs might help protect women from breast cancer, according to a major study.
British researchers say they have found a strong link between high cholesterol levels and breast cancer risk.
The finding comes on the back of years of research linking obesity to breast cancer.
Last year a study on laboratory mice suggested high cholesterol levels might help explain how obesity triggers cancer.
Now Aston University researchers have reported the findings of their study, involving more than 664,000 women, to a major European conference, the Frontiers in CardioVascular Biology 2014 in Barcelona, Spain.
Some 22,000 women had high cholesterol levels and 530 of these developed breast cancer – 2.4% – compared 9,312 breast cancer victims in total – or 1.4%.
The researchers say this meant high cholesterol levels contributed to a 64% increased risk of developing breast cancer.
Researcher Dr Rahul Potluiri said: “Statins are cheap, widely available and relatively safe. We are potentially heading towards a clinical trial in 10-15 years to test the effect of statins on the incidence of breast cancer.
“If such a trial is successful, statins may have a role in the prevention of breast cancer especially in high risk groups, such as women with high cholesterol.”
“While our study was preliminary, our results are promising. We found a significant association between having high cholesterol and developing breast cancer that needs to be explored in more depth."
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