High Cholesterol Levels Accelerate Growth of Prostate Cancer

[Guest guest]

I read a short version of this in the local paper today and managed

to track it back closer to the source. I'm guessing that most long-

term cronies (I don't yet include myself in that group) do not have a

high cholesterol problem, but I found the article personally

interesting as I was diagnosed with PCa in 1999.

Press release from Children's Hospital Boston:

http://www.childrenshospital.org/cfapps/CHdeptPagePressDisplay.cfm?

Dept=Press%20Room & PageNbr=150 & ParentPage=1

TinyURL:

http://tinyurl.com/46773

PDF of study published in the Journal of Clinical Investigation:

http://www.jci.org/cgi/reprint/JCI200519935v1.pdf

Partial text of press release:

Researchers at Children's Hospital Boston have demonstrated that high

blood cholesterol levels accelerate the growth of prostate tumors,

showing that cholesterol helps prostate tumors survive and grow at

the molecular level by altering chemical signaling patterns within

tumor cells.

The findings, published in the April 1 issue of the Journal of

Clinical Investigation (available online March 17), are in keeping

with population studies that have linked prostate cancer with high

cholesterol levels and Western diets high in cholesterol. The

researchers also present evidence that cholesterol-

lowering ''statin'' drugs, now widely used in cardiovascular disease,

may inhibit cancer growth.