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. 2023 Mar 9;23(1):224.
doi: 10.1186/s12885-023-10631-w.

Impact of oral statin therapy on clinical outcomes in patients with cT1 breast cancer

Koji Takada  1 , Shinichiro Kashiwagi  2 , Nozomi Iimori  1 , Rika Kouhashi  1 , Akimichi Yabumoto  1 , Wataru Goto  1 , Yuka Asano  1 , Yukie Tauchi  1 , Tamami Morisaki  1 , Kana Ogisawa  1 , Masatsune Shibutani  3 , Hiroaki Tanaka  3 , Kiyoshi Maeda  3
Affiliations

Impact of oral statin therapy on clinical outcomes in patients with cT1 breast cancer

Koji Takada et al. BMC Cancer. .

Abstract

Purpose: A previous meta-analysis examining the relationship between statin use and breast cancer reported that the inhibitory effect of statins on breast cancer may be more pronounced in early-stage cases. In this study, we aimed to investigate the effects of hyperlipidemia treatment at the time of breast cancer diagnosis and to examine its correlation with metastasis to axillary lymph nodes among patients with so-called cT1 breast cancer whose primary lesion was 2 cm or less and was pathologically evaluated by sentinel lymph node biopsy or axillary lymph node dissection. We also investigated the effects of hyperlipidemic drugs on the prognosis of patients with early-stage breast cancer.

Methods: After excluding cases that did not meet the criteria, we analyzed data from 719 patients who were diagnosed with breast cancer, with a primary lesion of 2 cm or less identified by preoperative imaging, and who underwent surgery without preoperative chemotherapy.

Results: Regarding hyperlipidemia drugs, no correlation was found between statin use and lymph node metastasis (p = 0.226), although a correlation was found between lipophilic statin use and lymph node metastasis (p = 0.042). Also, the disease-free survival periods were prolonged following treatment of hyperlipidemia (p = 0.047, hazard ratio: 0.399) and statin administration (p = 0.028, hazard ratio: 0.328).

Conclusion: In cT1 breast cancer, the results suggest that oral statin therapy may contribute to favorable outcomes.

Keywords: axillary lymph node; breast cancer; hyperlipidemia; prognosis; statin.

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Conflict of interest statement

The authors declare that they have no competing interests.

Figures

Fig. 1
Fig. 1
Forest plot showed odd ratios for the univariate association of the risk factors for axillary lymph node metastasis
Fig. 2
Fig. 2
Kaplan–Meier method comparing recurrence-free survival (RFS) and overall survival (OS) by statin or lipophilic statin. There was no significant difference in RFS due to statin (A) and lipophilic statin (B). No significant difference was found in OS due to statin (C) and lipophilic statin (D)
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