The role of statins in lung cancer

Abstract

Lung cancer is one of the most common causes of cancer-related mortality in the 21st century. Statins as inhibitors of 3-hydroxy-3-methylglutaryl coenzyme A reductase not only reduce the cholesterol levels in the blood and decrease the risk of cardiovascular disease but may also play an important role in the prevention and treatment of lung cancer. Statins have several antitumor properties including the ability to reduce cell proliferation and angiogenesis, decrease invasion and synergistic suppression of lung cancer progression. Statins induce tumor cell apoptosis by inhibition of downstream products such as small GTP-binding proteins, Rho, Ras and Rac, which are dependent on isoprenylation. Statins reduce angiogenesis in tumors by down-regulation of pro-angiogenic factors, such as vascular endothelial growth factor. In this review, the feasibility and efficacy of statins in the prevention and treatment of lung cancer are discussed.

The Effects of Statin Therapy on Oxidized LDL and Its Antibodies: A Systematic Review and Meta-Analysis

“…In the armamentarium of different lipid-lowering drugs [12][13][14], statins still remain the most widely prescribed class. This is due to their efficient LDL-lowering activity and pleiotropic effects of these drugs ( [15][16][17][18][19][20][21]). Although the effects of statins on LDL-C are well known, inconsistency about the effects of statin therapy on circulating levels of oxLDL and anti-oxLDL antibodies is still present.…”

Therapeutic effects of statins on osteoarthritis: A review

“…The pharmacodynamic characteristics of statins explain why they exert a wide range of pleiotropic effects 29 . In addition to the various beneficial effects of statins on endothelial health and reduction of cardiovascular disease risk, 30–33 a wide range of therapeutic effects have been discussed for statins 34–40 . Pleiotropic effects of statins include improvement of endothelial dysfunction, increased nitric oxide (NO) bioavailability, antioxidant properties, inhibition of inflammatory responses, and stabilization of atherosclerotic plaques 30,33,41–44 .…”

“…29 In addition to the various beneficial effects of statins on endothelial health and reduction of cardiovascular disease risk, [30][31][32][33] a wide range of therapeutic effects have been discussed for statins. [34][35][36][37][38][39][40] Pleiotropic effects of statins include improvement of endothelial dysfunction, increased nitric oxide (NO) bioavailability, antioxidant properties, inhibition of inflammatory responses, and stabilization of atherosclerotic plaques. 30,33,[41][42][43][44] However, it has been indicated in different studies that not all of the pleiotropic effects of statins are related to their cholesterol-lowering properties.…”

How statin drugs affect exosomes?

“…Not only was the discovery of statins an important step in management of cardiovascular disease, but the pleiotropic effects of statins on other processes have proven to be interesting. There are reports showing that statins have cholesterol‐independent effects possibly relating to inhibition of isoprenoid intermediates in the cholesterol biosynthesis pathway 2–18 . Isoprenylation is the posttranslational modification of intracellular proteins with downstream effects, and is affected by isoprenoids.…”