A new study conducted by researchers at the Mass General Cancer Center in the United States reveals that statins, which are drugs commonly used to lower cholesterol, could block a specific pathway involved in the development of cancer associated with chronic inflammation. The results have been published in the journal Nature Communications.
Chronic inflammation is a major cause of cancer worldwide, the researchers explained in their article, adding that interleukin 33 (IL-33) is a key element that initiates chronic inflammation that can lead to cancer, but that However, it was not known how this chronic inflammation is induced by environmental causes.
The study findings show that pitavastatin inhibits interleukin-33 (IL-33), and suggest that blocking IL-33 production with this drug may be a safe and effective preventive strategy to suppress chronic inflammation and the subsequent development of certain cancers.
Pivastatin reduced the risk of pancreatitis and pancreatic cancer
The researchers analyzed how environmental toxins can initiate chronic inflammation that predisposes to cancer in the skin and pancreas and evaluated safe and effective therapies to block this pathway with the aim of suppressing chronic inflammation and its carcinogenic consequences.
Dr. Shawn Demehri, principal investigator at the Cancer Immunology Center and Cutaneous Biology Research Center at Massachusetts General Hospital, and his team used cell lines, animal models, human tissue samples and epidemiological data. Experiments in cells showed that environmental toxins, such as allergens and chemical irritants, activate two connected signaling pathways called TLR3/4 and TBK1-IRF3. This activation leads to the production of the protein interleukin-33 (IL-33), which stimulates inflammation in the skin and pancreas and may contribute to the development of cancer.
By screening a library of drugs approved by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA), researchers found that one statin, pitavastatin, effectively suppresses IL-33 expression by blocking activation of the TBK1-signaling pathway. IRF3. In mice, pitavastatin suppressed environmentally induced inflammation in the skin and pancreas, and prevented the development of inflammation-related pancreatic cancers.
In mice, pitavastatin suppressed environmentally induced inflammation in the skin and pancreas, and prevented the development of inflammation-related pancreatic cancers
In human pancreatic tissue samples, overexpression of IL-33 was found in patients with chronic pancreatitis and pancreatic cancer compared to normal pancreatic tissue. Additionally, in analysis of electronic health record data from more than 200 million people in North America and Europe, pitavastatin use was associated with a significant reduction in the risk of chronic pancreatitis and pancreatic cancer.
The authors say their findings demonstrate that blocking TBK1-IRF3-IL-33 signaling suppresses chronic inflammation that can lead to cancer and that statins, such as pitavastatin, present a safe and effective strategy to prevent chronic inflammation and its progression. to cancer.
The researchers’ next goal is to examine in detail the impact of statins in preventing the development of cancer in chronic inflammation of the liver and gastrointestinal tract, and to identify other therapeutic approaches to suppress chronic inflammation that predisposes to cancer, concludes Demehri. , who is also an associate professor of Dermatology at Harvard Medical School.
