Abstract

Ascer Elia

Background: Anti-inflammatory properties of statins are discussed in many trials nowadays. Objective: Atorvastatin activity on proinflamatory markers such as: TNF, IL-1, IL-6, sICAM-1 and PCR, in patients with LDL greaten than 160mg/ dL.

Methods and results: Two lipid-lowering regimens were taken for 8 weeks. One set of patients (n = 45, 26 men, average 50 ± 2 years of age) was subjected to atorvastatin treatment (20�??40 mg/day), plus diet recommendation. Another set of patients (n = 23, 12 men, average 53 ± 3 years of age) went through diet recommendation alone. Both groups were recommended to perform standard physical activity. Plasma samples were collected after overnight fasting at baseline and after 8 weeks for ELISA. The use of atorvastatin when compared to diet alone, resulted in significant (P < 0.0001) reductions for: LDL-cholesterol (39.9% versus 4.4%), TNF (21.4% versus 2.9%), IL-6 (22.1% versus 2.0%), IL-1 (16.4% versus 2.7%) and sICAM-1 (9.6% versus 0.1%), respectively. The percentage of patients with CRP levels >3 mg/dL in the atorvastatin group fell from 25.0 to 6.7% (P < 0.0001) while in the diet group the reduction was not significant.

Conclusion: Atorvastatin showed significant reduction in proinflammatory markers. This has an important knowledge about possible effects of atorvastatin seen on cardiovascular diseases. Keywords: Cytokines; Intercellular adhesion molecule-1; Hypercholesterolaemia; Inflammatory markers; Atorvastatin