The benefits of statins go beyond decreasing cholesterol levels; in liver disease, statins reduce the risk of progressive liver fibrosis and provide protection during infections and ischaemia–reperfusion injury. New evidence shows that statins improve response to interferon-based anti-HCV therapy, decrease progression to cirrhosis and likelihood of developing hepatocellular carcinoma.
This is a preview of subscription content, access via your institution
Relevant articles
Open Access articles citing this article.
-
Anti-CD321 antibody immunotherapy protects liver against ischemia and reperfusion-induced injury
Scientific Reports Open Access 18 March 2021
-
A Nitric Oxide-Donating Statin Decreases Portal Pressure with a Better Toxicity Profile than Conventional Statins in Cirrhotic Rats
Scientific Reports Open Access 13 January 2017
Access options
Subscribe to this journal
Receive 12 print issues and online access
$209.00 per year
only $17.42 per issue
Buy this article
- Purchase on Springer Link
- Instant access to full article PDF
Prices may be subject to local taxes which are calculated during checkout
References
Chang, C. H. et al. Severe hepatic injury associated with different statins in patients with chronic liver disease: a nationwide population-based cohort study. J. Gastroenterol. Hepatol. 30, 155–162 (2015).
Lewis, J. H. et al. Efficacy and safety of high-dose pravastatin in hypercholesterolemic patients with well-compensated chronic liver disease: results of a prospective, randomized, double-blind, placebo-controlled, multicenter trial. Hepatology 46, 1453–1463 (2007).
Popescu, C. I. et al. Hepatitis C virus life cycle and lipid metabolism biology. Biology (Basel) 3, 892–921 (2014).
Butt, A. A. et al. Effect of addition of statins to antiviral therapy in HCV infected persons: Results from ERCHIVES. Hepatology. http://dx.doi.org/10.1002/hep.27835.
Schaefer, E. A. & Chung, R. T. HCV and host lipids: an intimate connection. Semin. Liver Dis. 33, 358–368 (2013).
Zhu, Q. et al. Statin therapy improves response to interferon alfa and ribavirin in chronic hepatitis C: a systematic review and meta-analysis. Antiviral Res. 98, 373–379 (2013).
Abraldes, J. G. et al. Simvastatin lowers portal pressure in patients with cirrhosis and portal hypertension: a randomized controlled trial. Gastroenterology 136, 1651–1658 (2009).
Marrone, G. et al. KLF2 exerts antifibrotic and vasoprotective effects in cirrhotic rat livers: behind the molecular mechanisms of statins. Gut http://dx.doi.org/10.1136/gutjnl-2014-308338.
La Mura, V. et al. Effects of simvastatin administration on rodents with lipopolysaccharide-induced liver microvascular dysfunction. Hepatology 57, 1172–1181 (2013).
Abraldes, J. G. et al. Addition of Simvastatin to standard treatment improves survival after variceal bleeding in patients with cirrhosis. A double-blind randomized trial (NCT01095185) [abstract O167]. J. Hepatol. 6 (Suppl.), S525 (2014).
Acknowledgements
The CIBERehd is supported by the Instituto de Salud Carlos III. J.B. is supported by grants from Fondo de Investigación Sanitaria (PI13/341). The authors are indebted to C. Esteva for expert secretarial support.
Author information
Authors and Affiliations
Corresponding author
Ethics declarations
Competing interests
The authors declare no competing financial interests.
Rights and permissions
About this article
Cite this article
Bosch, J., Forns, X. Statins and liver disease: from concern to 'wonder' drugs?. Nat Rev Gastroenterol Hepatol 12, 320–321 (2015). https://doi.org/10.1038/nrgastro.2015.78
Published:
Issue Date:
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1038/nrgastro.2015.78
This article is cited by
-
Anti-CD321 antibody immunotherapy protects liver against ischemia and reperfusion-induced injury
Scientific Reports (2021)
-
The Use of Statins in Patients With Chronic Liver Disease and Cirrhosis
Current Treatment Options in Gastroenterology (2018)
-
A Nitric Oxide-Donating Statin Decreases Portal Pressure with a Better Toxicity Profile than Conventional Statins in Cirrhotic Rats
Scientific Reports (2017)
-
Hepatocellular carcinoma
Nature Reviews Disease Primers (2016)