Statins as anti-pyroptotic agents

Masoomeh Khalifeh; Peter E Penson; Maciej Banach; Amirhossein Sahebkar

doi:10.5114/aoms/141155

Statins as anti-pyroptotic agents

Arch Med Sci. 2021 Aug 9;17(5):1414-1417. doi: 10.5114/aoms/141155. eCollection 2021.

Authors

Masoomeh Khalifeh¹, Peter E Penson^{2

3}, Maciej Banach^{4

5}, Amirhossein Sahebkar^{6

7

8

9}

Affiliations

¹ Department of Medical Biotechnology and Nanotechnology, Faculty of Medicine, Mashhad University of Medical Sciences, Mashhad, Iran.
² School of Pharmacy and Biomolecular Sciences, Liverpool John Moores University, Liverpool, UK.
³ Liverpool Centre for Cardiovascular Science, Liverpool, UK.
⁴ Department of Preventive Cardiology and Lipidology, Medical University of Lodz, Lodz, Poland.
⁵ Cardiovascular Research Centre, University of Zielona Gora, Zielona Gora, Poland.
⁶ Applied Biomedical Research Centre, Mashhad University of Medical Sciences, Mashhad, Iran.
⁷ Biotechnology Research Centre, Pharmaceutical Technology Institute, Mashhad University of Medical Sciences, Mashhad, Iran.
⁸ School of Medicine, The University of Western Australia, Perth, Australia.
⁹ School of Pharmacy, Mashhad University of Medical Sciences, Mashhad, Iran.

Abstract

Introduction: Pyroptosis is a regulated form of cell death, which is often a consequence of the activation of inflammatory caspases.

Methods: Appropriate inflammatory responses and the induction of pyroptosis enhance the clearance of pathogens and increase innate immunity.

Results: However, excessive pyroptosis contributes to a hyperinflammatory response and aggravates tissue damage, thereby causing inflammatory diseases. There have been recent reports on the modulation of pyroptosis by statins, which may explain part of the pleiotropic actions of these drugs in inflammatory diseases and cancer.

Conclusions: Herein, the extant evidence for the potential value of statins in targeting pyroptosis in various diseases is reviewed.

Keywords: cell death; inflammation; pyroptosis; statins.