ClinicalTrials.gg
RecruitingNCT05559164Updated Nov 14, 2025

Statins for Reduction of Cardiac Toxicity in Patients Receiving HER2 Targeted

A Phase 2 interventional study of Lipitor 40mg Tablet in Cardiac Toxicity and Early-stage Breast Cancer, sponsored by Rutgers, The State University of New Jersey. Recruiting at 10 sites in United States. Open to female participants aged 18 Years and older. Per ClinicalTrials.gov, last updated 2025-11-14.

Sponsored by Rutgers, The State University of New Jersey · Phase 2, Interventional, and Treatment

From the registry’s dates

  • Started Sep 2022; still recruiting 4 years 1 month later.
Phase
Phase 2
Study type
Interventional
Enrollment
60
Allocation
Not applicable
Ages
18 Years and older
Sex
Female
01

Study summary

This study proposes that the addition of statins reduces the treatment delays or early discontinuations secondary to cardiotoxicity in patients with Stage I-III HER2 positive breast being treated with anti-HER2 therapy.

Read the detailed description

A single arm open-label phase 2 study to evaluate the cardioprotective effects of statins in patients with Stage I-III HER2 positive breast cancer receiving HER2 targeted therapy. This study will evaluate the hypothesis that addition of statins will reduce treatment delays/discontinuations related to symptomatic/asymptomatic cardiac dysfunction in patients being treated with anti-HER2 therapy. The long-term goal of this study is to improve disease related outcomes and quality of life measures in patients being treated with anti-HER2 therapy.

02

Conditions studied

  • Cardiac Toxicity
  • Early-stage Breast Cancer
03

In context

Cardiotoxicity

262 studies on the registry are indexed under Cardiotoxicity; 75 are open to participants now.

This study's planned enrollment of 60 is below the median of 93 across 137 interventional studies indexed under Cardiotoxicity.

Browse Cardiotoxicity studies →

Lead sponsor

Rutgers, The State University of New Jersey is the lead sponsor of 506 studies on the registry; 131 are open to participants now.

Of its 39 completed or terminated interventional studies of FDA-regulated products, 31 (79%) have results posted.

Counted across the registry records on this site, refreshed daily.

04

Who can participate

Ages eligible
18 Years and older
Sexes eligible
Female
Accepts healthy volunteers
No

Go through the criteria one by one — yes, no or not sure — and take the list to your doctor or the study team. Kept in this browser only.

Inclusion criteria

  • and/or cytologically confirmed diagnosis of Stage I-III female breast cancer (including inflammatory breast cancer)
  • Scheduled to receive /adjuvant targeted therapy
  • Between ≥18 years of age
  • Female patients of must have a negative pregnancy test (serum or urine) prior to enrollment. Female patients must agree to use effective barrier during the period of therapy
  • Baseline ≥ 50%
  • Prior cancers allowed if no evidence of disease in last 5 years
  • 0-2
  • No prior history of treatment with HER2 targeted therapy or anthracyclines based chemotherapy
  • Adequate bone marrow function:

I. ≥ 1000/uL II. count ≥ 100,000/uL III. ≥ 9.0 g/dL

  • Adequate hepatic function: I. Total ≤ 1.5 X II. (SGOT) ≤ 5 X ULN III. ALT (SGPT) ≤ 5 X ULN
  • Adequate renal function, Creatinine \< 1.5x institutional ULN or calculated ≥ 50 mL/min as estimated using the Cockcroft-Gault formula
  • Ability to understand the nature of this study protocol and give written
  • Willingness and ability to comply with scheduled visits, treatment plans, laboratory tests, and other study procedures

Exclusion criteria

Exclusion Criteria:

  • Participants with stage IV breast cancer
  • Participants currently taking statins
  • Uncontrolled hypertension (systolic blood pressure >190 mm Hg or diastolic blood pressure >100 mm Hg)
  • No active liver disease
  • Current use of CYP 3A4 inhibitors
  • Any condition including the presence of laboratory abnormalities, which, in the opinion of the investigator places the subject at unacceptable risk if he/she were to participate in the study
  • \< 12 weeks
  • Pregnancy (positive pregnancy test) or lactation
  • Pre-existing sensory neuropathy > grade one
  • Has significant cardiovascular disease, such as:

\< 50% at baseline as assessed by ECHO (preferred) i) Class III or Class IV myocardial disease as described by the ii) Recent history (within 6 months prior to enrollment) of myocardial infarction; or iii) Symptomatic arrhythmia at the time of randomization

  • Major surgery without complete recovery in the past four weeks prior to screening
  • Concurrent active infection
  • Participant with uncontrolled and/ or active infection with , or
  • Participant who has a history of allergy or to any of the study drugs
  • Participant with a history of interstitial lung disease, history of slowly progressive dyspnea and unproductive cough, sarcoidosis, silicosis, interstitial pulmonary fibrosis, pulmonary hypersensitivity pneumonitis
  • Any significant medical condition, laboratory abnormality, or psychiatric illness that would prevent the subject from participating in the study
Terms in these criteria, in plain language(21)

Underlined terms in the criteria open these too. Explained by clinicaltrials.gg, not part of the registry record. The study team decides who can take part.

Histologically or cytologically confirmed

The diagnosis was confirmed by looking at a sample under a microscope: tissue from a biopsy or surgery (histology), or cells from a fluid or needle sample (cytology).

Your pathology report is the document that shows this.

Adjuvant and neoadjuvant

Neoadjuvant treatment is given before the main treatment (usually surgery), often to shrink a tumour. Adjuvant treatment is given after it, to lower the chance of the cancer coming back.

HER2

HER2 is a protein, made from the ERBB2 gene, that drives the growth of some cancers. A study may look for a level of the protein, extra copies of the gene, or a particular change in it.

In breast cancer, protein tests are read as HER2-positive, HER2-low or HER2-negative; other cancers use their own rules. Check which test result the study requires.

Childbearing potential

Able to become pregnant: from the first period until menopause, unless permanently unable to through surgery (removal of the womb, or of both ovaries or both fallopian tubes).

Criteria for people of childbearing potential usually ask for a negative pregnancy test and for contraception during the study and for a time after it.

Contraception

Ways of preventing pregnancy. “Highly effective” methods fail less than 1% of the time a year when used correctly — for example an IUD or an implant.

Criteria usually say which methods count and how long to keep using them after the last dose, sometimes for male participants too. Some studies accept a partner’s vasectomy if it was confirmed successful and that person is the participant’s only sexual partner.

LVEF (left ventricular ejection fraction)

The share of blood the heart’s main pumping chamber (the left ventricle) pushes out with each beat, measured by an echocardiogram (heart ultrasound) or a MUGA scan. About 50–70% is normal.

ECOG performance status

A scale of how much an illness limits everyday activity. For people being assessed to join a study, scores run from 0 (fully active) to 4; lower is more active.

0
Fully active, no restrictions.
1
Limited in strenuous activity, but walking and able to do light work, such as housework or office work.
2
Walking and able to look after yourself, but unable to work; up and about more than half of waking hours.
3
Able to look after yourself only in part; in bed or a chair more than half of waking hours.
4
Unable to look after yourself at all; in bed or a chair all day.

Studies most often ask for 0–1 or 0–2. Your doctor gives the score; the WHO scale uses the same steps. The full scale also has 5, which records death.

Absolute neutrophil count (ANC)

The number of neutrophils, white blood cells that help fight infection, in a given amount of blood. Too few raises the risk of infection.

It is a count, not a percentage of the white cells. Limits are written in units that mean the same: ≥ 1.5 × 10⁹/L is ≥ 1,500 per mm³ (µL). Each lab has its own reference range.

Platelets

Blood cells that help blood clot. Too few raises the risk of bleeding and bruising. A usual adult range is about 150–400 × 10⁹/L (150,000–400,000 per µL); each lab has its own reference range.

Hemoglobin (Hb)

The protein in red blood cells that carries oxygen. A low level is anaemia, which can cause tiredness and breathlessness. Measured in g/dL or g/L (9 g/dL is 90 g/L).

Bilirubin

A yellow substance made when red blood cells are broken down, which the liver clears. A high level can mean a problem with the liver or the bile ducts.

Criteria often allow more for people with Gilbert’s syndrome, a harmless inherited condition that raises bilirubin.

ULN (upper limit of normal)

The top of the normal range for a blood test, as set by the laboratory that runs it. Each lab prints its own range next to your result.

“≤ 2.5 × ULN” means the result can be up to two and a half times that top value.

ALT and AST (liver enzymes)

Two enzymes measured in a routine blood test of the liver. Higher levels can mean the liver is under strain or damaged. SGPT and SGOT are older names for ALT and AST.

Criteria usually give a limit as a multiple of the upper limit of normal (ULN), often higher when cancer has spread to the liver.

Creatinine clearance (CrCl)

How quickly the kidneys clear creatinine, a waste product, from the blood. A study may estimate it from a blood test with age, weight and sex (often by the Cockcroft–Gault formula), or measure it using blood and urine collected over a set time. Given in mL/min; higher is better.

Informed consent

Before you join, the study team explains what taking part involves — its purpose, what happens, the risks and possible benefits — and answers your questions, so you can decide freely. Consent is usually recorded on a form (the informed consent form, ICF) signed by you or, where the law allows, by someone legally authorised to decide for you.

You can keep asking questions during the study, you are told of new information that matters, and you can choose to leave at any time.

Life expectancy

The study doctor’s estimate of how long someone is likely to live. Criteria use it so that people can stay in the study long enough for it to answer its question.

NYHA class (heart failure)

The New York Heart Association’s four classes of how much heart failure limits physical activity.

I
No limits: ordinary activity causes no undue tiredness or breathlessness.
II
Slight limits: comfortable at rest, ordinary activity causes symptoms.
III
Marked limits: comfortable at rest, less than ordinary activity causes symptoms.
IV
Symptoms even at rest; any activity makes them worse.

Studies set their own limit — many outside heart failure leave out class III–IV, while heart failure studies may ask for a particular class. Check the class this study names.

HIV

The human immunodeficiency virus, which weakens the immune system.

Many studies now accept people whose HIV is controlled on treatment, judged by the viral load and the CD4 count. Check the limits this study sets.

Hepatitis B tests

Hepatitis B is a virus that infects the liver. These are separate tests: HBsAg positive usually means a current infection (a recent vaccination can briefly cause it too); total anti-HBc (HBcAb) positive means an infection now or in the past; HBV DNA measures how much virus is in the blood.

Some studies accept a past infection if HBV DNA is undetectable, sometimes with antiviral medicine during the study. Check what this study allows.

Hepatitis C tests

Hepatitis C is a virus that infects the liver. An HCV antibody test can stay positive after an infection has cleared (and is occasionally positive without one); an HCV RNA test shows whether the virus is there now.

After treatment, hepatitis C counts as cured when HCV RNA is still undetectable 12 weeks or more after the treatment ended. Studies often accept people cured this way.

Hypersensitivity

An allergy, or another reaction of the immune system, to a substance. “Hypersensitivity to the study drug” means a known allergic reaction to it — not every side effect a medicine can have.

05

Study design

Phase
Phase 2
Primary purpose
Treatment
Allocation
Not applicable
Intervention model
Single group
Masking
None (open label)
Enrollment
60 participants (estimated)

Study arms

  • Experimental
    Anti-HER2 targeted therapy + Lipitor 40mg daily

    Participants will receive Lipitor 40 mg PO daily while receiving anti-HER2 therapy.

    Drug: Lipitor 40mg Tablet

Interventions

  • LIPITOR® (atorvastatin calcium) tablets will be administered orally as a single dose of 40 mg once daily, with or without food

    Also known as: Atorvastatin Calcium

06

What researchers measure

Primary outcomes

  1. Number of Participants With at Least One Adverse Event will be measured using Common Terminology Criteria for Adverse Events (CTCAE) v5.0 for five years

    Adverse events (AEs) will be measured using Common Terminology Criteria for Adverse Events (CTCAE) v5.0 for five years

    Time frame: Five years

Secondary outcomes

  1. Patient reported outcome (PRO) for pain measured by the quality of Life questionnaire using PROMIS to measure pain

    Quality of Life questionnaire using PROMIS will be administered at baseline, six, twelve and fifteen months

    Time frame: Baseline, six, twelve and fifteen months

Other outcomes

  1. Patient reported outcome (PRO) for pain measured by the quality of Life questionnaire using PROMIS to measure fatigue

    Quality of Life questionnaire using PROMIS will be administered at baseline six, twelve and fifteen months

    Time frame: Baseline, six, twelve and fifteen months

  2. Patient reported outcome (PRO) for pain measured by the quality of Life questionnaire using PROMIS to measure physical functioning

    Quality of Life questionnaire using PROMIS will be administered at baseline six, twelve and fifteen months to measure physical functioning

    Time frame: Baseline, six, twelve and fifteen months

  3. Patient reported outcome (PRO) for pain measured by the quality of Life questionnaire using PROMIS to measure emotional distress

    Quality of Life questionnaire using PROMIS will be administered at baseline six, twelve and fifteen months to measure emotional distress

    Time frame: Baseline, six, twelve and fifteen months

  4. Patient reported outcome (PRO) for pain measured by the quality of Life questionnaire using PROMIS to measure social participation

    Quality of Life questionnaire using PROMIS will be administered at baseline six, twelve and fifteen months to measure social participation

    Time frame: Baseline, six, twelve and fifteen months

07

Study locations

9 of 10 sites recruiting
08

References and documents

Individual participant data

Plan to share: No

No publications or documents are linked to this record.

09

Updates

Tracking since Sep 25, 2026
No changes since tracking began. The registry record was last updated on Nov 14, 2025, before this site started recording changes on Sep 25, 2026. Its history is on ClinicalTrials.gov ↗
10

Registry details

Key details

Study ID
NCT05559164
Responsible party
Mridula George, MD (Assistant Professor of Medicine, Rutgers, The State University of New Jersey) — Principal investigator
First posted
Sep 29, 2022
Start date
Sep 19, 2022
Primary completion
Sep 1, 2026 (estimated)
Completion
Mar 1, 2027 (estimated)
Last update
Nov 14, 2025

Study contacts

Mridula George, MD
Contact
mridula@cinj.rutgers.edu
732-235-9081
Coral Omene, MD
Contact
co273@cinj.rutgers.edu
732-235-3374
Mridula George, MD
principal investigator · Rutgers Cancer Institute of New Jersey

Oversight

Data monitoring committee
Yes
FDA-regulated drug
Yes
FDA-regulated device
No
View the source record on ClinicalTrials.gov ↗

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Studies of the drug tested here: Atorvastatin

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