4 ms·

Some doctors and researchers believe the benefit from statins is more to do with the decrease in inflammation caused by them. Possibly widespread use of statins

Some doctors and researchers believe the benefit from statins is more to do with the decrease in inflammation caused by them. Possibly widespread use of statins has beneficial effects on other disease processes too.

Gibbon1 10y ago
Yeah I think there was a large study done comparing a newer cholesterol lowering drug with statins. The result was the new non-statin drug wasn't effective at all even though it lowered cholesterol levels.
- mrob 10y ago
  You might be thinking of CETP inhibitors. This class of drug modifies cholesterol levels to numbers associated with better health, but so far none of them have conclusively improved health outcomes: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/CETP_inhibitor https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/CETP_inhibitor Anacetrapib is still in stage III trials so it's too early to consider the concept a failure, but I think the bad results so far are evidence that hyperlipidemia is a symptom not a cause of cardiovascular disease, and that statins have some mechanism of action beyond just modifying cholesterol levels (eg. anti-inflammatory, as some people have suggested).
  - Gibbon1 10y ago
    Yes those drugs. Hard to say conclusively, but the failure of most of CETP inhibitors is troubling news for the hyperlipidemia theory. Meaning possible hyperlipidemia has multiple causes and in and of itself isn't bad. AKA Cause A results in hyperlipidemia. Cause B results in hyperlipidemia. Cause C results in hyperlipidemia and arterial plaques. Cause D results in hyperlipidemia.
    - carbocation 10y ago
      Numerous lines of evidence, including randomized controlled trials, single gene studies, and Mendelian randomization studies, are not consistent with your interpretation. Multiple agents that reduce cholesterol, including ezetemibe and statins, reduce cardiovascular disease outcomes and death. Multiple cholesterol-related genes, including HMGCR, LDLR, APOB, PCSK9, and ANGPTL3, contain variants which influence both LDL cholesterol and the risk for coronary artery disease, myocardial infarction, and death. And Mendelian randomization studies that rely upon a dose-response relationship between genes that influence cholesterol and the cardiovascular outcomes that they cause have also demonstrated a link between genetically driven cholesterol levels and hard endpoints. So, one set of drugs (CETP inhibitors) that don't seem to follow the story are more likely to be the exception, rather than the rule. Interesting biology awaits us in the explanation of why the CETP inhibitors don't do what we imagined they would with hard outcomes.
      - Gibbon1 10y ago
        > reduce cardiovascular disease outcomes and death. Only in small selected populations.
copperx 10y ago
However, non-steroidal antiinflamatories are linked to cancer.

Gibbon1 10y ago

Yeah I think there was a large study done comparing a newer cholesterol lowering drug with statins. The result was the new non-statin drug wasn't effective at all even though it lowered cholesterol levels.

mrob 10y ago
You might be thinking of CETP inhibitors. This class of drug modifies cholesterol levels to numbers associated with better health, but so far none of them have conclusively improved health outcomes: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/CETP_inhibitor https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/CETP_inhibitor Anacetrapib is still in stage III trials so it's too early to consider the concept a failure, but I think the bad results so far are evidence that hyperlipidemia is a symptom not a cause of cardiovascular disease, and that statins have some mechanism of action beyond just modifying cholesterol levels (eg. anti-inflammatory, as some people have suggested).
- Gibbon1 10y ago
  Yes those drugs. Hard to say conclusively, but the failure of most of CETP inhibitors is troubling news for the hyperlipidemia theory. Meaning possible hyperlipidemia has multiple causes and in and of itself isn't bad. AKA Cause A results in hyperlipidemia. Cause B results in hyperlipidemia. Cause C results in hyperlipidemia and arterial plaques. Cause D results in hyperlipidemia.
  - carbocation 10y ago
    Numerous lines of evidence, including randomized controlled trials, single gene studies, and Mendelian randomization studies, are not consistent with your interpretation. Multiple agents that reduce cholesterol, including ezetemibe and statins, reduce cardiovascular disease outcomes and death. Multiple cholesterol-related genes, including HMGCR, LDLR, APOB, PCSK9, and ANGPTL3, contain variants which influence both LDL cholesterol and the risk for coronary artery disease, myocardial infarction, and death. And Mendelian randomization studies that rely upon a dose-response relationship between genes that influence cholesterol and the cardiovascular outcomes that they cause have also demonstrated a link between genetically driven cholesterol levels and hard endpoints. So, one set of drugs (CETP inhibitors) that don't seem to follow the story are more likely to be the exception, rather than the rule. Interesting biology awaits us in the explanation of why the CETP inhibitors don't do what we imagined they would with hard outcomes.
    - Gibbon1 10y ago
      > reduce cardiovascular disease outcomes and death. Only in small selected populations.

copperx 10y ago

However, non-steroidal antiinflamatories are linked to cancer.