High cholesterol medication may provide some protection to the brain during cancer treatment, new VCU study finds
VCU Health Pauley Heart Center researcher says the findings are a promising step towards preserving the cognitive function of cancer patients undergoing chemotherapy.
October 21, 2025
Chemotherapy targets fast-growing cells, including non-cancerous cells, which researchers say causes a variety of side effects. (Getty Images)
By Liz Torrey
New research coming out of the VCU Health Pauley Heart Center shows that a medication commonly used to treat high cholesterol may provide some protection to breast and lymphoma cancer patients’ cognition during chemotherapy.
Many patients treated with chemotherapy report mental fog and cognitive challenges, including impacts on memory, problem-solving, cognitive flexibility, self-control and planning – both during and after cancer treatment. These side effects are sometimes referred to as “chemo-brain.”
In a recent study published in the Journal of the American Medical Association (JAMA) Network Open, lead author Pamela Jill Grizzard, MS, assistant director of research compliance and regulatory affairs at Pauley Heart Center, found that patients who received statins, a high cholesterol medication, before, during and up to 24 months after cancer treatment saw an improvement in their executive function, which are mental skills for planning, focus and self-control.
Pamela Jill Grizzard, MS, is the assistant director of research compliance and regulatory affairs at the VCU Health Pauley Heart Center. (Contributed photo)
Grizzard and a team of researchers from VCU, Wake Forest University, University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, Mayo Clinic and University of Pennsylvania reviewed previously collected data from the PREVENT trial of participants undergoing chemotherapy for either breast cancer or lymphoma. As part of the clinical trial, participants took either a statin or a placebo, had their heart function monitored by both cardiac MRI and biomarker testing and were given cognitive assessments.
In the past, higher doses of statins have been associated with reversible cognitive decline in older individuals, so the PREVENT trial team wanted to test how chemotherapy and statins would interact and impact not only cardiac function, but cognitive function as well.
“Our results suggest that cancer patients who participated in our statin group may have shown some unexpected cognitive benefit while undergoing chemotherapy and for two years after treatment. Protecting the mind is just as important as protecting the heart during cancer treatment,” Grizzard said.
Grizzard’s secondary analysis of the PREVENT trial’s cognitive testing results revealed that patients who received statins had a significant mean improvement of 10.2 fewer seconds to complete an executive function test, compared with an improvement of only 0.2 seconds in the placebo group. “Executive function” refers to those high-level mental skills that serve as the mind’s “air traffic control system,” according to Grizzard, and help to manage life’s demands efficiently. Such cognitive skills are essential for cancer survivors who are managing treatment decisions and coping with challenges due to their diagnosis.
Chemotherapy causes a wide range of side effects because it targets fast-growing cells, which include not only cancer cells, but also other types of cells like those that form hair follicles, bone marrow, the digestive tract and skin. The medical community isn’t sure what causes cognitive decline during cancer treatment; it may be the result of chemotherapy targeting certain brain cells or it may be a secondary result of other chemotherapy side effects, such as general fatigue or anemia.
“Cancer treatment can be debilitating, and cognitive decline arising from chemotherapy treatment can sometimes last long after treatment concludes,” Grizzard said. “My hope is that this research contributes in some small way to any larger efforts to offer therapeutic relief to cancer patients who encounter difficulties with executive function following cancer treatment. If future studies confirm a beneficial effect, statins could become a valuable tool in helping cancer survivors maintain cognitive function and quality of life throughout treatment.”
Further studies are needed to determine whether statins can preserve executive function during and after treatment for other forms of cancer. But what Grizzard’s research seems to indicate to cancer patients is that taking statins during cancer treatment will not negatively impact cognitive function and may even help prevent decline in high-level mental skills.
“One lesser known and long-term side effect of cancer treatment – and of breast cancer treatment in particular – is that cancer treatment can cause heart disease,” said Greg Hundley, M.D., director of the Pauley Heart Center. “Pauley’s cardio-oncology research team is constantly working to uncover new therapies that protect the heart during cancer treatment. So, it’s very exciting when we discover a cardiovascular therapy may have additional benefits for cancer patients beyond the heart.”
Pauley Heart Center’s cardio-oncology program was founded in 2013. It is one of only two in Virginia and the only program recognized as a Gold-Certified Center of Excellence by the International Cardio-Oncology Society between Philadelphia and Charlotte.
The research reported in this study was supported by grants from the National Institutes of Health, Alliance for Clinical Trials in Oncology National Cancer Institute Community Oncology Research Program (NCORP) Research Base, Wake Forest NCORP Research Base, and the Eastern Cooperative Oncology Group-American College of Radiology Imaging Network (ECOG-ACRIN) NCOPR Research Group.
