| Paper description |
Statins are competitive inhibitors of HMG-CoA reductase, a rate-limiting enzyme for cholesterol synthesis, and have been widely used as plasma cholesterol lowering drugs in dyslipidemic patients. Many large-scale clinical intervention trials have demonstrated that statins significantly lower morbidity and mortality, particularly due to reduction in cardiovascular events (1). Furthermore, numerous studies in recent years suggested that prolonged use of statins is associated with lower risk of other diseases, including dementia due to Alzheimer’s disease (AD) (2-6). These findings led to recommendations for significant increase in use of statins, and prompted several clinical trials where statins were tested in people who already have AD. However, data published so far suggest that use of statins in AD patients led to mixed outcomes (7-12), somewhat diminishing the initial hope that statins may not only prevent processes leading to AD, but also retard the disease when it is already clinically apparent. Furthermore, a report by Algotsson and Winblad suggested that patients with AD may have increased susceptibility to statin-induced adverse effects (13). |
(创新港)
