Something for everyone on 5 fu chemo

Options
snommintj
snommintj Member Posts: 601
edited March 2014 in Colorectal Cancer #1
I came across an article from the august 1999 edition of clinical cancer research. The article described the benefit of lovastatin in combination with 5 fu. The article was very clear in the added benefits of combining the two. The study found that lovastatin increased cell death from 44% to 66% +/- 3%. Now the article never said it, but in my book that is a 50% improvement. The article also says that the lovastatin can be used with lower doses of 5fu and still be effective. I'm probably gonna ask my dr to prescribe it to me. So all you guys on chemo check it out. In addition if your on folfiri, I found a study published august 2005 from kimmel cancer center that claims that if your cancer expresses the irf5 protein, a combination of irinotecan and interferon 2b kills 80% of cancer cells on the first cycle. That would certainly get me excited.

Comments

  • geotina
    geotina Member Posts: 2,111 Member
    #2
    Options
    Thanks for the info
    After finishing the whole Folfox thing, and a short break for scans, etc. George restarted chemo using 5Fu and I thought the doctor said Leucovorin adding avastin every other week. Maybe I misunderstood because he said it so fast and he is getting lovastatin with the 5FU every week. Will ask next week. Aain, thanks for the information. So far so good the chemo is doing its job so we stay the course. Tina
  • snommintj
    snommintj Member Posts: 601
    #3
    Options
    geotina said:

    Thanks for the info
    After finishing the whole Folfox thing, and a short break for scans, etc. George restarted chemo using 5Fu and I thought the doctor said Leucovorin adding avastin every other week. Maybe I misunderstood because he said it so fast and he is getting lovastatin with the 5FU every week. Will ask next week. Aain, thanks for the information. So far so good the chemo is doing its job so we stay the course. Tina

    you're right
    I'm sure he's getting the avastin. Lovastatin is a cholesterol medication not considered for chemotherapy.
  • geotina
    geotina Member Posts: 2,111 Member
    #4
    Options
    snommintj said:

    you're right
    I'm sure he's getting the avastin. Lovastatin is a cholesterol medication not considered for chemotherapy.

    Yep
    He is getting an infusion of 5FU and Leucovin every week adding avastin every other week. George is on a cholesterol medication but he was taking that before the cancer, the name of what he takes escapes me right now. Thanks.
  • fringetree
    fringetree Member Posts: 65
    #5
    Options
    Something to consider
    I did a quick PubMed search...lots of activity with lovastatin for different cancers. Here is one abstract I found that may impact your decision (I can't access the article without paying)
    I'm not sure what dose is generally given to humans (or what Dr. Cantrell's dosage is), but it seems a low dose could be worse than none at all. That being said, if my dad was still on 5FU I would definitely be asking his DR about it. Good luck!

    Int J Cancer. 2010 Jan 15;126(2):578-582.

    In vivo evidence of duality effects for lovastatin in a nude mouse cancer model.
    Wang CY, Shui HA, Chang TC.

    Statins, hydroxy-methyl-glutaryl coenzyme A reductase inhibitors, are the most effective medication for lowering cholesterol, cardiovascular morbidity and mortality. On the basis of our previous in vitro experimental results on an anaplastic thyroid cancer cell line, we designed a nude mouse model in which cancer cells were seeded subcutaneously to examine the potential anticancer effects of lovastatin in vivo. As expected, tumor growth was significantly reduced in the mice treated with 5 or 10 mg/kg/day of lovastatin compared with the positive control group. However, the tumor grew much faster in the mice treated with 1 mg/kg/day of lovastatin than in the positive control group. We suspect this result might be related to vascular endothelial growth factor. In this model, we found that lovastatin inhibits tumor growth at a high dosage (5 or 10 mg/kg/day), suggesting it could be used as an effectively adjuvant chemotherapy for cancer. However, it also promotes tumor growth at a low dosage (1 mg/kg/day). This duality effect should be further studied for patients treated with various dosages of statins.
  • fringetree
    fringetree Member Posts: 65
    #6
    Options
    fringetree said:

    Something to consider
    I did a quick PubMed search...lots of activity with lovastatin for different cancers. Here is one abstract I found that may impact your decision (I can't access the article without paying)
    I'm not sure what dose is generally given to humans (or what Dr. Cantrell's dosage is), but it seems a low dose could be worse than none at all. That being said, if my dad was still on 5FU I would definitely be asking his DR about it. Good luck!

    Int J Cancer. 2010 Jan 15;126(2):578-582.

    In vivo evidence of duality effects for lovastatin in a nude mouse cancer model.
    Wang CY, Shui HA, Chang TC.

    Statins, hydroxy-methyl-glutaryl coenzyme A reductase inhibitors, are the most effective medication for lowering cholesterol, cardiovascular morbidity and mortality. On the basis of our previous in vitro experimental results on an anaplastic thyroid cancer cell line, we designed a nude mouse model in which cancer cells were seeded subcutaneously to examine the potential anticancer effects of lovastatin in vivo. As expected, tumor growth was significantly reduced in the mice treated with 5 or 10 mg/kg/day of lovastatin compared with the positive control group. However, the tumor grew much faster in the mice treated with 1 mg/kg/day of lovastatin than in the positive control group. We suspect this result might be related to vascular endothelial growth factor. In this model, we found that lovastatin inhibits tumor growth at a high dosage (5 or 10 mg/kg/day), suggesting it could be used as an effectively adjuvant chemotherapy for cancer. However, it also promotes tumor growth at a low dosage (1 mg/kg/day). This duality effect should be further studied for patients treated with various dosages of statins.

    and another

    Figure 3 and 5 are especially interesting

    Synergistic anti-tumor efficacy of lovastatin and protein kinase C-beta inhibitor in hepatocellular carcinoma
    http://www.springerlink.com/content/t0w03w517206q706/ (click on "PDF")

    Lovastatin increases cell death and decreases proliferation, but also increases activity of PKC (which promotes cancer growth).

    The usual caveats apply...(in vivo mouse model, in vitro human cell model, not colon cancer)
  • lisa42
    lisa42 Member Posts: 3,625 Member
    #7
    Options
    Hi John,

    I read the same article. I also read one about combining lovastatin with irinotecan. Interestingly, a lady at my church who had breast cancer 5 or 6 yrs ago told me her doctor prescribed Lovastatin for her to take along with the tamoxifen to take the year following her mascectomy. She said her doctor said "the lovastatin will help prevent the cancer from coming back".

Discussion Boards