Statins are cholesterol-lowering drugs that exert pleiotropic effects which include changes in the plasminogen activation (PA) system of endothelial cells (EC). It was the objective of this study to investigate the signal transduction pathways by which statins increase the expression of tissue-type PA (t-PA) and decrease PA inhibitor type 1 (PAI-1) in human umbilical vein EC. Fluvastatin treatm...

Rats that consumed a high-fat and high-sucrose diet (HF diet) developed hepatic steatosis. Treatment of HF diet-fed rats with fluvastatin (8 mg/kg) was lethal, followed by an elevation in levels of plasma aspartate aminotransferase and creatine kinase activities and skeletal muscle toxicity. This study was conducted to determine whether nutritional status affects statin-induced adverse effects ...

PURPOSE Lovastatin is an effective inhibitor of cholesterol synthesis. A previous study demonstrated that lovastatin can also suppress airway hyperresponsiveness (AHR) in murine model of asthma. We aimed to investigate the effect of lovastatin on mucus secretion and inflammation-associated gene expression in the lungs of murine model of asthma. METHODS Female BALB/c mice were sensitized and c...

In this paper we present the finding that lovastatin arrests cells by inhibiting the proteasome, which results in the accumulation of p21 and p27, leading to G1 arrest. Lovastatin is an inhibitor of hydroxymethyl glutaryl (HMG)-CoA reductase, the rate-limiting enzyme in cholesterol synthesis. Previously, we reported that lovastatin can be used to arrest cultured cells in the G1 phase of the cel...

We used lovastatin, a specific inhibitor of HMG-CoA reductase, to study the role of cholesterol synthesis in regulation of both bile acid synthesis, measured by release of 14CO2 from [26-14C]cholesterol, and biliary cholesterol secretion, measured by standard marked perfusion techniques, in humans. Six volunteers were studied in each of four periods: a) control; b) 6-10 hours after a single 40 ...

Statins are used widely to lower serum cholesterol and the incidence of cardiovascular diseases. Growing evidence shows that statins also exhibit beneficial effects against cancers. In this study, we investigated the molecular mechanisms involved in lovastatin-induced cell death in Fadu hypopharyngeal carcinoma cells. Lovastatin caused cell cycle arrest and apoptosis in FaDu cells. Lovastatin i...

BACKGROUND Statins are the most widely prescribed drug available. Due to this reason, it is important to understand the risks involved with the drug class and individual statins. AIM We conducted a meta-analysis and employed indirect comparisons to identify differing risk effects across statins. DESIGN We included any randomized clinical trial (RCT) of atorvastatin, fluvastatin, lovastatin,...

Dyslipidaemia is a major cardiovascular risk factor in the South African population. The primary aim of the study was to determine the prescribing patterns of hypolipidaemic agents on the South African market with specific emphasis on the Prescribed Daily Doses (PDDs) of HMG CoA reductase inhibitors (statins). A retrospective, cross-sectional pharmacoepidemiological study was conducted on 2011 ...

The Rho GTPases are involved in actin cytoskeleton organization and signal transduction. They need polyisoprenylation for membrane association and activation. Lovastatin, a hydroxymethylglutaryl coenzyme A inhibitor, prevents isoprene synthesis and thereby lipid modification of the Rho protein carboxy terminus. Because lovastatin causes rounding up of cultured cells, we investigated whether the...

Lovastatin therapy is known to induce hepatic low density lipoprotein (LDL) receptor mRNA and LDL receptor activity. Yet, in studies in humans and animals it has been difficult to demonstrate an enhancement of the plasma fractional catabolic rate (FCR) of an injected LDL tracer during lovastatin therapy. One explanation may be that the composition of the LDL tracer may also change during therap...