Statins: Beneficial Effects in Treatment of Covid-19 Publisher Pubmed



Lashgari NA^{1, 2} ; Roudsari NM^{1, 2} ; Shamsnia H^{1, 2} ; Shayan M^{3, 4} ; Momtaz S^{2, 5, 6} ; Abdolghaffari AH^{1, 2} ; Matbou Riahi M⁷ ; Jamialahmadi T⁷ ; Guest PC^{8, 9, 10} ; Reiner Z¹¹ ; Sahebkar A^{7, 12, 13} Show Affiliations
Source: Advances in Experimental Medicine and Biology Published:2023

Abstract

The recent viral disease COVID-19 has attracted much attention. The disease is caused by SARS-CoV-19 virus which has different variants and mutations. The mortality rate of SARS-CoV-19 is high and efforts to establish proper therapeutic solutions are still ongoing. Inflammation plays a substantial part in the pathogenesis of this disease causing mainly lung tissue destruction and eventually death. Therefore, anti-inflammatory drugs or treatments that can inhibit inflammation are important options. Various inflammatory pathways such as nuclear factor Kappa B (NF-κB), signal transducer of activators of transcription (STAT), nod-like receptor family protein 3 (NLRP), toll-like receptors (TLRs), mitogen-activated protein kinase (MAPK), and mammalian target of rapamycin (mTOR) pathways and mediators, such as interleukin (IL)-6, IL-1β, tumor necrosis factor-α (TNF-α), and interferon-γ (INF-γ), cause cell apoptosis, reduce respiratory capacity and oxygen supply, eventually inducing respiratory system failure and death. Statins are well known for controlling hypercholesterolemia and may serve to treat COVID-19 due to their pleiotropic effects among which are anti-inflammatory in nature. In this chapter, the anti-inflammatory effects of statins and their possible beneficial effects in COVID-19 treatment are discussed. Data were collected from experimental and clinical studies in English (1998–October 2022) from Google Scholar, PubMed, Scopus, and the Cochrane Library. © 2023, The Author(s), under exclusive license to Springer Nature Switzerland AG.