Study reveals non-statin cholesterol drugs could reduce liver cancer risk

The third leading cause of cancer mortality accounts for over 700,000 deaths every year

A study conducted by researchers from the National Cancer Institute (NIH) has revealed that non-statin cholesterol drugs could reduce the risk of liver cancer.

Published in the American Cancer Society’s CANCER, researchers looked for associations between five types of non-stain cholesterol-lowering medications and the risk of liver cancer.

Accounting for more than 700,000 deaths each year, liver cancer is the sixth most commonly occurring cancer globally and the third leading cause of cancer mortality.

Non-statin cholesterol-lowering medications such as cholesterol absorption inhibitors, bile acid sequestrants, fibrates, niacin and omega-3 fatty acids all work in different ways and are prescribed to manage cholesterol and lipid levels.

Using information from the Clinical Practice Research Datalink, which covers around 7% of the UK population, researchers analysed 3,719 liver cancer cases and 14,876 matched controls without cancer.

Additional matches were also made based on patients’ type 2 diabetes and chronic liver disease status.

In total, researchers found that the use of cholesterol absorption inhibitors was associated with 31% lower odds of liver cancer risk, while statins were associated with 35% lower odds in the overall analysis.

In addition, these medications were linked with a lower risk of liver cancer in analyses based on diabetes and liver disease status, while no associations with liver cancer risk were observed for fibrates, omega-3 fatty acids or niacin, and bile acid sequestrant use was associated with higher odds of liver cancer risk in the overall analysis.

Dr Katherine McGlynn, senior investigator, NIH division of cancer epidemiology and genetics, commented: “The results of our study require replication in other populations. If our findings are confirmed in other studies, however, our results may inform liver cancer prevention research.”

Prior to this, in June, a study conducted by Oxford Population Health demonstrated that a cholesterol-lowering drug, fenofibrate, could help reduce the risk of retinopathy, an eye disease, in people living with diabetes as part of the Lowering Events in Non-proliferative Retinopathy in Scotland trial.