Grant: Project Grant

Cardiovascular diseases and cancers, the two leading causes of death in Canada, require cholesterol to fuel their progression. While all cells need cholesterol, cancer cells have significantly higher demands to support their growth, division, and metastasis. New cholesterol-lowering drugs are achieving historically low cholesterol levels, effectively protecting patients from heart disease. The combination of atorvastatin, ezetimibe, and evolocumab has proven safe and well-tolerated. Reports indicate that abundant cholesterol supplies are necessary to sustain the progression of pancreatic ductal adenocarcinomas, and we now have the means to reduce cholesterol supplies to PDAC. This study proposal is a translational clinical trial informed by insights from our previous trial, NCT04862260, which was halted in 2025. Its objectives are: 1) to assess the impact of cholesterol blockade initiated at diagnosis on tumour markers, and 2) to confirm that the combination of cholesterol-lowering drugs transforms the liver into a cholesterol sink, depriving tumour cells of essential cholesterol supplies.