Targeting Metastatic Breast Cancer with Statin Drugs and CoQ10

Statin drugs are commonly prescribed to lower cholesterol levels in patients, but recently statins have been under investigation as a potential anti-cancer drug. Statins are HMG-CoA reductase inhibitors and subsequently inhibit the mevalonate pathway and cholesterol synthesis. Since cholesterol trafficking is vital in the growth and metastasis of cancer, statin drugs are being studied to explore their effects on cancer cells. CoQ10, one of the products from the mevalonate pathway, also has shown some potential anti-cancer properties, but its use to combat cancer is controversial. While some studies have shown that CoQ10 supplements can be synergistic with other cancer treatment methods, the biochemical mechanisms of CoQ10\u27s potential anti-cancer properties are poorly understood. In this experiment, the anti-cancer potentials of lovastatin and CoQ10 were studied using the breast cancer cell lines BoM-1833 (BoM) derived from MDA-231, MCF7/BoM, and T47D. The IC50 values for lovastatin were found to be 4.89×10-06 M (BoM) and 4.06×10-06 M (MCF7/BoM). The IC50 values for CoQ10 were found to be 5.46×10-07 M (BoM) and 8.86×10-07 M (MCF7/BoM). IC50 values for lovastatin and CoQ10 with the cell line T47D were not found because the drugs did not sufficiently inhibit the growth of the T47D cells