Inclusion Criteria

DISEASE CHARACTERISTICS:

- Meets any of the following criteria:

- History of invasive breast cancer

- History of ductal carcinoma in situ

- At high risk for breast cancer, defined as being on anastrozole for
chemoprevention of breast cancer

- Receiving anastrozole for ≥ 30 days as adjuvant breast cancer treatment or for
prevention of breast cancer

- No active breast cancer with known metastatic involvement

- Hormone receptor status not specified

PATIENT CHARACTERISTICS:

- Female

- Postmenopausal

- ECOG performance status 0-2

- AST and ALT ≤ 3 times upper limit of normal

- Creatinine clearance ≥ 30 mL/min

- No active liver disease

- No prior hypersensitivity to any HMG-CoA reductase inhibitor or any of its components

- No daily alcohol use of > 3 standard drinks/day

- A standard drink is defined as 10 g of alcohol, which is equivalent to 285 mL of
beer, 530 mL of light beer, 100 mL of wine, or 30 mL of liquor

PRIOR CONCURRENT THERAPY:

- See Disease Characteristics

- No cholesterol-lowering drug, including a statin, within the past 3 months

- No selective estrogen receptor modulator (SERM) within the past 3 months

- No other hormone therapy within the past 3 months

- No prior estrogen and/or progesterone hormone replacement therapy that lasted for ≥ 5
years

- Vaginal estrogen preparations allowed

- No other concurrent statin or cholesterol-lowering drug

- No other concurrent SERM

- No other concurrent hormone therapy

- No other concurrent investigational drugs

- No concurrent CYP3A4 inhibitors, including itraconazole, ketoconazole, erythromycin,
clarithromycin, telithromycin, HIV protease inhibitors, nefazodone, or cyclosporine

- No concurrent chemotherapy or biological agents

- No concurrent daily grapefruit juice > 8 oz/day

- No other concurrent anticancer agents or therapies