Drug insight: statins and gastrointestinal cancer.

Statins are popular lipid-lowering drugs that have had a great impact on the primary and secondary prevention of cardiovascular diseases. Basic and clinical research have also revealed that statins have biologic activities that go beyond lipid lowering, and suggest that they might have other therapeutic benefits. Perhaps the most exciting of these additional biologic effects is the finding that statins can exert an anticancer effect on cultured cancer cells, and in animal models.

Statins and cancer prevention.

Randomized controlled trials for preventing cardiovascular disease indicated that statins had provocative and unexpected benefits for reducing colorectal cancer and melanoma. These findings have led to the intensive study of statins in cancer prevention, including recent, large population-based studies showing statin-associated reductions in overall, colorectal and prostate cancer. Understanding the complex cellular effects (for example, on angiogenesis and inflammation) and the underlying molecular mechanisms of statins (for example, 3-hydroxy-3-methylglutaryl coenzyme-A (HMG-CoA) reductase-dependent processes that involve geranylgeranylation of Rho proteins, and HMG-CoA-independent processes that involve lymphocyte-function-associated antigen 1) will advance the development of molecularly targeted agents for preventing cancer.

Massive lower gastrointestinal bleeding after rejection of pancreatic transplants.

Background: This article highlights two cases of massive lower gastrointestinal bleeding in patients on dialysis after rejection of kidney-pancreas transplants. Patient 1 was a 34-year-old female with 27 years of type I diabetes, who had a kidney-pancreas transplant in 1996, which was complicated by rejection of the kidney and pancreas in 2000 and 2002, respectively. Later in 2002, she presented in shock after experiencing cramping abdominal pain and passage of large bloody stools.

Statins and the risk of colorectal cancer.

Background: Statins are inhibitors of 3-hydroxy-3-methylglutaryl coenzyme A reductase and effective lipid-lowering agents. Statins inhibit the growth of colon-cancer cell lines, and secondary analyses of some, but not all, clinical trials suggest that they reduce the risk of colorectal cancer.

Methods: The Molecular Epidemiology of Colorectal Cancer study is a population-based case-control study of patients who received a diagnosis of colorectal cancer in northern Israel between 1998 and 2004 and controls matched according to age, sex, clinic, and ethnic group.

Is endoscopy necessary for the measurement of disease activity in ulcerative colitis?

Objectives: Many disease activity indices are used to measure ulcerative colitis. Invasive indices incorporate an endoscopic score, while noninvasive indices do not require endoscopy. In clinical practice, many patients are treated based on their symptoms without endoscopic evaluation.

Epidemiology of constipation in North America: a systematic review.

Objective: The aim of this study was to systematically review the published literature regarding prevalence, risk factors, incidence, natural history, and the effect on quality of life of constipation in North America.

Methods: A computer-assisted search of MEDLINE, EMBASE, and Current Contents databases was performed independently by two investigators. Study selection criteria included the following: (1) North American population-based sample of adults with constipation; (2) publication in full manuscript form in English; and (3) report on the prevalence, incidence, and natural history of constipation or impact of constipation on quality of life.