The pleiotropic effects of atorvastatin on stable angina patients: Evidence by analysis of high-density lipoprotein size and subclasses, and plasma mRNA

Abstract

Background: High-density lipoproteins (HDL) have atheroprotective biological properties: antioxidative, anti-apoptotic, anti-inflammatory, and they have the efflux capacity of cellular cholesterol. Plasma mRNA analysis can be used to investigate statin pleiotropy in vivo as a new analytical tool for non-invasive assessment of gene expression in vascular beds. The aim of this study was to assess the pleiotropic effects of atorvastatin in stable angina patients with high-risk values (group A) as compared with patients who had borderline and desirable HDL-cholesterol (HDL-C) values (group B). Methods: The atorvastatin therapy (20 mg/day) was given to forty-three patients with stable angina for 10 weeks. We investigated three statin pleiotropy-targeted genes: intercellular adhesion molecule-1, chemokine (C-C motif) ligand 2 and cathepsin S and assessed by gel electrophoresis gradient the effects of atorvastatin on HDL size and subclasses. Results: In group A, after therapy, HDL-C concentration was significantly increased but not in group B. Atorvastatin lowered plasma chemokine (C-C motif) lig- and 2 and intercellular adhesion molecule-1 mRNA levels in both groups, but did not change the plasma cathepsin S mRNA levels. In group A only, baseline total bilirubin showed negative correlations with the genes of cathepsin S (r = -0.506; p = 0.023) and significantly increased after therapy. Conclusions: HDL-C and bilirubin can be promising therapeutic targets in the treatment of cardiovascular diseases. Analysis of cell-free mRNA in plasma might become a useful tool for estimating statin pleiotropy.

Keywords

• high-density lipoprotein subclasses
• cathepsin s
• bilirubin
• mrna in plasma
• atorvastatin