Cholesterol 'linked to breast cancer growth'

Cholesterol could fuel the spread of breast cancer, reports the BBC news. A byproduct of cholesterol could help breast cancer to spread, making it harder to treat and altering a patient's prognosis. 

A new study has highlighted the fact that cholesterol treating medications - called statins - could help to prevent cancer. Published in the journal 'Science', the study also explains why obesity is a factor that means many are at high risk of developing cancers, reports the news provider.

While obesity results in the release of certain hormones that can cause cancer to grow and spread faster, researchers in the US have suggested that cholesterol could be doing the same thing. Scientists at Duke University Medical Centre found that the body works to break down cholesterol, resulting in 27HC being released. This byproduct can act in the same way as the hormone oestrogen and so affect some tissues in the same way.

Testing on mice revealed that a high fat diet increased the levels of 27HC in the blood. This excess of the byproduct resulted in the growth of tumours that were 30 per cent larger than those that grew in mice that were on a normal diet.

Professor Donald McDonnell, one of the researchers on the study, said: "A lot of studies have shown a connection between obesity and breast cancer, and specifically that elevated cholesterol is associated with breast cancer risk, but no mechanism has been identified.

"What we have now found is a molecule - not cholesterol itself, but an abundant metabolite of cholesterol - called 27HC that mimics the hormone oestrogen and can independently drive the growth of breast cancer," reports the BBC.

Although it is too early to suggest that women begin taking statins as a way of reducing their chances of developing breast cancer. However, the research does point to the possible benefits of reducing cholesterol levels as a precaution against the development of breast cancer. While medications can be used to cut down on cholesterol levels, a healthy diet is one of the easiest ways to reduce cholesterol in the blood.