Posted on 12/17/2023 9:02:32 PM PST by ConservativeMind
Hard-to-detect colorectal pre-cancerous lesions known as serrated polyps, and tumors that develop from them, depend heavily on tramped-up production of cholesterol, according to a preclinical study. The finding points to the possibility of using cholesterol-lowering drugs to prevent or treat such tumors.
The researchers analyzed mice that develop serrated polyps and tumors.
They confirmed their findings in analyses of human serrated polyps and tumors and showed in mouse models that replicate the human cancer that blocking cholesterol production prevented the progression of these types of intestinal tumors.
Cholesterol is considered a pro-growth molecule.
"Trials of statins to prevent colorectal cancer have had conflicting results," Dr. Diaz-Meco said. "Our findings suggest that this is because targeting cholesterol has a preventive but selective effect only against polyps and tumors of this serrated type."
Several years ago, the Moscat/Diaz-Meco team linked serrated polyps and tumors to low levels of two enzymes known as aPKCs.
In the new study, the scientists found that in serrated-type tumors in these mice, and even in intestinal tissue poised to develop these types of cancerous lesions, cholesterol synthesis was strikingly upregulated.
The researchers revealed how the absence of aPKC enzymes unleashes the activation of a transcription factor called SREBP2, which switches on cholesterol production. Tests on colorectal polyp and tumor samples from human patients dovetailed with the mouse findings. They found that only serrated-type tumors had low aPKC levels concomitant with the accumulation of SREBP2, a driver and a marker of upregulated cholesterol biosynthesis in the serrated cancer cells.
Lastly, the researchers tested a combination of two cholesterol synthesis-blocking drugs, including the widely used atorvastatin. The treatment significantly lowered the rate at which both serrated polyps and tumors later formed.
The results indicate that targeting cholesterol could be a viable strategy for treating and preventing serrated-type colorectal tumors.
(Excerpt) Read more at medicalxpress.com ...
Statins are truly wonder drugs. Should be available OTC for free.
You can have mine. Have they shown any reduction in overall mortality?
Why does medicine ignore science, just to make companies a lot of money.
They are wonder drugs. They make trillions without helping patients. They cause doctors to pay attention to tests that don’t have scientific support.
Brought to you by... Pfizer!
I think that all mice should take these drugs.
However, among aging humans, the higher your cholesterol the longer you live.
I have had that impression based on longevity in the family and the fact that while I am 85, many people guess me as in my 60s. My cholesterol hovers between 200 and 250. The doctor urged me to take statins, but they didn’t help my mother live longer, both she and my father died at age 90. My fathers father died at 98 and had 2 sisters who died at 103 and 106. I have thus rejected statins. On the other hand there is something called Red Yeast Rice, which seems useful as a healthy giving food in China for many centuries. Anyone have more information on that?
My 2 sons in their early 50s have both had polyps removed, and my brother had colon cancer surgery, and is now dying of metastatic liver cancer. It had been improving, but then he took a 4th Covid Vaccine, and immediately got much worse. I am wondering if I should take the red yeast rice I bought a while ago but never started taking.
“Statins are truly wonder drugs. Should be available OTC for free”.
My Cardiologist (a teaching professor in Miami) was thrilled by a Scandinavia-wide human study of statin-drug recipients. That was 35 years ago, beginning with Mevacor.
Now at 80 y-o, I’m on maximum Atorvastatin, and still going strong. Just one LAD stent five years ago.
Yeah - statins are great - if you overlook the mile-long list of side effects and the fact that they may lower cholesterol but haven’t proved to enhance or extend lives - hence the new “discovery” that they MAY inhibit some cancers.
Red yeast rice is a statin, but without a prescription.
You could take the following for cholesterol:
- Apple cider vinegar (1 Tablespoon a day in plenty of water, or in capsules to save your teeth)
- Psyllium (A tablespoon twice a day, 20 minutes before eating, with plenty of water)
- Pantethine (600 - 900 mg daily)
- Bergamot
- HMB powder (1 gram a day, 3X)
- Increase fiber and fiber sources
- More exercise
These are some to consider. You can look them up, online.
I have never tried red yeast rice, but years ago I did try policosanol, a non-prescription sugar cane extract with a similar cholesterol lowering reputation. It gave me a pain in my arm, that the doctor at work thought might be a heart attack. When I stopped taking policosanol the pain went away. My inference is that interfering with cholesterol biosynthesis, whether it is with statin drugs, policosanol, or red yeast rice, can cause problems for susceptible people, and I would never do it again. At a minimum it will inhibit coenzyme Q10 biosynthesis, so supplementing that energy molecule should be mandatory.
Mr. mm’s grandmother lived into her mid-90’s and we found a blood panel report of hers that showed her cholesterol was in the 300’s at that age.
Yep - When I was in my mid 50s, a doctor tried to put me on statins even though my cholesterol was good - when I asked why, he said the American heart Association was recommending it for males over 50 - when I asked why, he just looked at me - I told him I needed a more compelling reason to put poison in my body - and dropped him as my Primary Care doctor.
Good on ya’. Thanks to covid and Sickening, I no longer regard doctor’s words as coming from the burning bush.
Check Sickening from the library. There is much more to the book than the statin pharmaceutical scam.
“Good on ya’. Thanks to covid and Sickening, I no longer regard doctor’s words as coming from the burning bush.”
Yep - none of the doctors I’m currently dealing with push the Covid jabs - they ask what jabs I’ve gotten and when I tell them, “None”, there’s no Tsking or head shakes.
Last Christmas, the wife came down with covid and when we took her in to get checked, the doctor said the test was positive and they had medications “designed for it” but she didn’t want to prescribe them because of known and unknown problems - so she just treated the symptoms and as it turns out, the first day was a miserable “bad cold” day and then a couple, medium cold days - the 72 year old wife was back to normal in a week and only really miserable for the first day.
I am already taking 200 mg. daily of CoQ10 so I guess I have that issue covered. I will have to research more on the Red Yeast Rice as I now have 4 large unopened bottles. I saw the information on the 3 items you suggested for my brother’s cancer and appreciate your caring enough to send it. Merry Christmas to you and all health seekers.
Thank you for your kind words.
“Higher levels of total cholesterol are associated with lower risk of all-cause mortality, especially non-cardiovascular mortality, among older people; the association is evident mainly among individuals who are not treated with cholesterol-lowering medications.”
If you decide to, you might put your unopened bottles of red yeast rice on a shelf next to my unopened bottles of policosanol. LOL. Best of luck whatever you decide to do.
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