Cholesterol-Lowering Drug Found to Be Effective Against 'Malignant Mutant Cancer'

KIST Confirms KRAS Mutant Cancer Treatment Effect of Commercialized Hyperlipidemia Drug 'Statin'
Good News for Difficult-to-Treat Lung, Colon, and Pancreatic Cancers with Immunotherapy
Remaining Tasks Include Determining Optimal Dosage and Efficient Delivery Methods

[Asia Economy Reporter Kim Bong-su] Korean researchers have confirmed that a widely used hyperlipidemia treatment drug is effective in treating highly fatal mutant cancers.

The Korea Institute of Science and Technology (KIST) announced on the 24th that the research team led by In-san Kim, head of the Theragnosis Research Group, and Professor Yong-beom Cho of Samsung Seoul Hospital revealed the mechanism by which statins, a hyperlipidemia treatment drug currently in widespread use, can be applied to the previously invincible KRAS mutant cancer treatment. KRAS is one of the RAS proteins that make up the signaling pathways related to cell differentiation, proliferation, and survival, and high-frequency mutations are observed in highly fatal cancers such as lung cancer, colorectal cancer, and pancreatic cancer.

KRAS mutant cancer has been regarded as an "invincible fortress" in cancer treatment. Recently, third-generation anticancer immunotherapy, which uses the body's immune system to eliminate cancer, has shown remarkable effects in clinical settings, giving hope to many researchers and patients. The problem is that KRAS mutant cancer, which accounts for about one-quarter of all cancers, still has limited treatment options despite various attempts to develop treatments including anticancer immunotherapy, resulting in poor prognosis for cancer patients.

The researchers administered anticancer drugs and statins intravenously to tumor animal models. As a result, they confirmed that statins selectively kill KRAS mutant cancer and release various signals that activate surrounding immune cells. The immune cells in the body effectively captured neoantigens from cancer cells and activated T cells, selectively attacking the cancer. Furthermore, statins altered the cancer immune environment that shows resistance to existing anticancer immunotherapy, thereby enhancing the efficacy of anticancer immunotherapy. This confirmed not only the effective treatment of KRAS mutant cancer but also the potential of a drug repurposing strategy based on statins, which are currently used to lower blood cholesterol levels.

For statins to become a successful case of drug repurposing, additional clinical studies are needed to find the optimal dosage, and methods to deliver statins more effectively to cancer tissues must be researched. If these processes lead to successful clinical application, it will drastically reduce the time and cost of new drug development and is expected to provide a breakthrough in addressing the high medical costs of anticancer immunotherapies, which are a significant social issue.

Director Kim said, "Statins, already used clinically, activated the human immune system to recognize and remember KRAS mutant cancer as an enemy, inducing immunogenic death of cancer cells," adding, "This overcomes the limitations of existing anticancer immunotherapies, and statins could be utilized as next-generation anticancer immunotherapies in the future."

This research result was published in the latest issue of the international academic journal ‘Journal for Immunotherapy of Cancer’ (IF: 13.751).

This content was produced with the assistance of AI translation services.