Statins, commonly used cholesterol-lowering drugs, may block a pathway that leads to the development of cancer from chronic inflammation, according to a new study led by investigators from Harvard-affiliated Mass General Cancer Center.
The team’s experiments showed that environmental toxins, such as those caused by exposure to allergens and chemical irritants, create a cascade effect that stimulates inflammation in the skin and pancreas that, when chronic, can result in cancer. Their findings suggest that using statins to suppress this pathway may have a protective effect.
The findings are published in Nature Communications.
