Piekuś-Słomka Natalia, Mocan Lavinia Patricia, Shkreli Rezarta, Grapă Cristiana, Denkiewicz Kinga, Wesolowska Oliwia, Kornek Miroslaw, Spârchez Zeno, Słomka Artur, Crăciun Rareș, Mocan Tudor
Department of Inorganic and Analytical Chemistry, Nicolaus Copernicus University in Toruń, Ludwik Rydygier Collegium Medicum in Bydgoszcz, Jurasza 2, 85-089 Bydgoszcz, Poland.
Department of Histology, "Iuliu Hațieganu" University of Medicine and Pharmacy, 400349 Cluj-Napoca, Romania.
Cancers (Basel). 2023 Oct 22;15(20):5100. doi: 10.3390/cancers15205100.
Statins, which are inhibitors of 3-hydroxy-3-methyl-glutaryl-coenzyme A (HMG-CoA) reductase, are an effective pharmacological tool for lowering blood cholesterol levels. This property makes statins one of the most popular drugs used primarily to prevent cardiovascular diseases, where hyperlipidemia is a significant risk factor that increases mortality. Nevertheless, studies conducted mainly in the last decade have shown that statins might prevent and treat liver cancer, one of the leading causes of cancer-related mortality worldwide. This narrative review summarizes the scientific achievements to date regarding the role of statins in liver tumors. Molecular biology tools have revealed that cell growth and proliferation can be inhibited by statins, which further inhibit angiogenesis. Clinical studies, supported by meta-analysis, confirm that statins are highly effective in preventing and treating hepatocellular carcinoma and cholangiocarcinoma. However, this effect may depend on the statin's type and dose, and more clinical trials are required to evaluate clinical effects. Moreover, their potential hepatotoxicity is a significant caveat for using statins in clinical practice. Nevertheless, this group of drugs, initially developed to prevent cardiovascular diseases, is now a key candidate in hepato-oncology patient management. The description of new drug-statin-like structures, e.g., with low toxicity to liver cells, may bring another clinically significant improvement to current cancer therapies.
他汀类药物是3-羟基-3-甲基戊二酰辅酶A（HMG-CoA）还原酶的抑制剂，是降低血液胆固醇水平的一种有效药理学工具。这一特性使他汀类药物成为主要用于预防心血管疾病的最常用药物之一，在心血管疾病中，高脂血症是增加死亡率的一个重要危险因素。然而，主要在过去十年进行的研究表明，他汀类药物可能预防和治疗肝癌，肝癌是全球癌症相关死亡的主要原因之一。这篇叙述性综述总结了迄今为止关于他汀类药物在肝肿瘤中作用的科学成果。分子生物学工具显示，他汀类药物可抑制细胞生长和增殖，并进一步抑制血管生成。荟萃分析支持的临床研究证实，他汀类药物在预防和治疗肝细胞癌及胆管癌方面非常有效。然而，这种效果可能取决于他汀类药物的类型和剂量，还需要更多的临床试验来评估其临床效果。此外，它们潜在的肝毒性是在临床实践中使用他汀类药物的一个重大警告。尽管如此，这类最初用于预防心血管疾病的药物，现在是肝脏肿瘤学患者管理中的关键候选药物。对新型他汀类药物结构（例如对肝细胞毒性低的结构）的描述，可能会给当前的癌症治疗带来另一项具有临床意义的改进。
