‘Bad’ cholesterol has become worse this week, with Australian researchers discovering it helps the spread of cancer throughout the body.

University of Sydney researchers have discovered that Low Density Lipoprotein (LDL or ‘bad’ cholesterol) regulates the body’s machinery for controlling cell migration.

“Our findings contribute to the debate that cholesterol levels may be associated with cancer incidence,” Associate Professor Thomas Grewal said.

“One of the things that makes cancer so difficult to treat is the fact that it can spread around the body.

“Most of the cells in our bodies stick to neighbouring 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 tumour to take root elsewhere in the body.

“Our study identified that ‘bad’ cholesterol controls the trafficking of tiny vessels which also contain these integrins, and this has huge effects on the ability of cancer cells to move and spread throughout the body,” said Professor Grewal, from the University's Faculty of Pharmacy.

“Our research found that having high amounts of ‘bad’ cholesterol seems to help the integrins in cancer cells to move and spread.”

“In contrast, we found that high levels of 'good' (HDL) cholesterol keeps integrins inside cells and may therefore protect against cancer cell spread.

“In fact, malignant cancer cells are known to take up increased amounts of ‘bad’ LDL cholesterol.

“Our findings advance the theory that knowing how to manipulate and lower ‘bad’ cholesterol could significantly help to reduce the ability of cancer cells to spread,” he said.

The study has been published in the journal Cell Biology.

The publication is the culmination of five years of research and is a collaboration between researchers at the University of Sydney, the Garvan Institute, and researchers in Brisbane, Hamburg and Barcelona, as well as current PhD students in Professor Grewal's team.