Grant: Operating Grant

Prostate cancer is the most common cancer in men, accounting for approximately 25,800 new cases each year in Canada. Treatment often does not result in a cure, so preventive measures are urgently needed. Unfortunately, very little is known about the causes of prostate cancer and on how to prevent its occurrence. Statins, a group of pharmaceuticals that includes atorvastatin (Lipitor) and rosuvastatin (Crestor), are widely used in the treatment of high cholesterol levels. Statins, which already appear to protect against heart disease and stroke, may also protect against cancer. Laboratory studies have shown that these drugs can inhibit the growth of human prostate cancer cells, but there is not yet enough corroborating evidence from human studies to be sure, and, therefore, more research on this topic is needed. The first aim of this proposal is to determine whether using statins can protect against prostate cancer. We will do this by contrasting the frequency of consumption of these drugs among prostate cancer patients to that of a comparable group of healthy men. The information will come from the Prescription Drug Plan database maintained by the health department of Saskatchewan, a Canadian province with universal health insurance coverage and excellent records of health care utilization. Our second aim is to investigate the role of statins in treating prostate cancer using data from the same source. Statins are widely used for the prevention of coronary heart disease. They are generally safe and can be taken over the long term. If we find that statin use is associated with reduced risk of developing prostate cancer, this may have important public health and clinical implications for the prevention of this common and fatal disease. The information gained from this study may also improve our understanding of the sequence of events that leads to the development of prostate cancer.