HMGCR and cancer: Our observations support the importance of cholesterol for the growth of prostate cancer cell lines: 1) increase in cell number relative to control after treatment with increasing concentrations of LDL; 2) decreased relative cell number after inhibition of intracellular cholesterol synthesis with simvastatin, which could be prevented by addition of LDL; 3) enhanced expression of HMG-CoA reductase, the rate-limiting enzyme of cholesterol biosynhesis at baseline in cancer cell lines and 4) no evidence of ABCA1 expression in cancer cells under any circumstances, even after LDL treatment.