Bad Cholesterol Increases the Spread of Cancer

Those with cancer may be at an increased risk of the disease metastasizing if they have high levels of "bad" cholesterol.

According to a team of researchers from the University of Sydney, low density lipoprotein (LDL), otherwise known as "bad" cholesterol, may cause increase the risk of cancer spreading throughout the body.

"One of the things that makes cancer so difficult to treat is the fact that it can spread around the body," said senior author of the report, Associate Professor Thomas Grewal from the University's Faculty of Pharmacy, via Medical Xpress. "Most of the cells in our bodies stick to neighboring cells through the help of 'Velcro-like' molecules on their surface known as integrins. Unfortunately, integrins also help cancer cells that have broken away from a cancerous tumor to take root elsewhere in the body."

Those with increased levels of "good" cholesterol, also known as HDL, are more likely to keep integrins in their cells, which may reduce the ability for cancer to spread.

"Scientists have long known that aggressive cancer cells accumulate bad cholesterol, but this is the first time we have seen how blocking LDL uptake could help stop cancer cells from moving," said associate Professor Grewal, via the news organization. 

Though the research was not linked to one particular type of cancer, evidence suggest that high cholesterol can increase the risk of breast, prostate and liver cancers.

"Our research found that having high amounts of 'bad' cholesterol seem to help the integrins in cancer cells to move and spread," Grewal explained. "In contrast, we found that high levels of 'good' [high density lipoprotein] cholesterol keeps integrins inside cells and may therefore protect against cancer cell spread."

More information regarding the findings can be seen via the study "Cholesterol Regulates Syntaxin 6 Trafficking at trans-Golgi Network Endosomal Boundaries," via the journal Cell Reports.