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Review

Nature Reviews Neurology 1, 106–112 (1 December 2005) | doi:10.1038/ncpneuro0047

Drug Insight: using statins to treat neuroinflammatory disease

Martin S Weber , Thomas Prod'homme , Lawrence Steinman & Scott S Zamvil

Statins, a family of 3-hydroxy-3-methylglutaryl coenzyme A reductase inhibitors, are used primarily to reduce atherogenesis and cardiovascular morbidity. Surprisingly, they have also been shown to have immunomodulatory properties that might be of benefit for the treatment of autoimmune disorders. Statins can prevent and even reverse ongoing paralysis in experimental autoimmune encephalomyelitis—the mouse model for multiple sclerosis—and on the basis of these findings, statins are now being tested in patients with multiple sclerosis in clinical trials.