Abdullah, MI, Wolf, ED, Jawad, MJ and Richardson, A (2018) The poor design of clinical trials of statins in oncology may explain their failure – lessons for drug repurposing. Cancer Treatment Reviews, 69. pp. 84-89. ISSN 0305-7372

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Abstract

Statins are widely used to treat hypercholesterolaemia. However, by inhibiting the production of mevalonate, they also reduce the production of several isoprenoids that are necessary for the function of small GTPase oncogenes such as Ras. As such, statins offer an attractive way to inhibit an “undruggable” target, suggesting that they may be usefully repurposed to treat cancer. However, despite numerous studies, there is still no consensus whether statins are useful in the oncology arena. Numerous preclinical studies have provided evidence justifying the evaluation of statins in cancer patients. Some retrospective studies of patients taking statins to control cholesterol have identified a reduced risk of cancer mortality. However, prospective clinical studies have mostly not been successful. We believe that this has occurred because many of the prospective clinical trials have been poorly designed. Many of these trials have failed to take into account some or all of the factors identified in preclinical studies that are likely to be necessary for statins to be efficacious. We suggest an improved trial design which takes these factors into account. Importantly, we suggest that the design of clinical trials of drugs which are being considered for repurposing should not assume it is appropriate to use them in the same way as they are used in their original indication. Rather, such trials deserve to be informed by preclinical studies that are comparable to those for any novel drug.

Item Type: Article
Additional Information: This is the accepted author manuscript (AAM). The final published version (version of record) is available online via Elsevier at http://doi.org/10.1016/j.ctrv.2018.06.010 - please refer to any applicable terms of use of the publisher.
Uncontrolled Keywords: statins, clinical trial design, drug repurposing
Subjects: R Medicine > R Medicine (General)
R Medicine > RM Therapeutics. Pharmacology
Divisions: Faculty of Medicine and Health Sciences > Institute for Science and Technology in Medicine
Depositing User: Symplectic
Date Deposited: 19 Jun 2018 08:52
Last Modified: 18 Jun 2019 01:30
URI: https://eprints.keele.ac.uk/id/eprint/5032

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