PREDICTING ACCELERATED RHEUMATOID ARTHRITIC INCIDANCE OF STATINS BY IN VITRO TECHNIQUES

Statins are the drugs used for the treatment of hyperlipidemia along with cholesterol lowering activity. In addition to cholesterol lowering activity these drugs may eventually leads to dysregulation of immune response. The primary objective of the present study focused on the induction of autoimmunity.The autoimmune response of statins is mediated by regulating leucocyte-endothelial cell adhesion, reducing nitric oxide production and promote the level of inflammatory cytokines such as tumour necrosis factor (TNF-α), interleukin 1 and interleukin 6. The dual effects of lipoprotein improvement and arthritic potential might be expected to confer an accelerated arthritic onset in patients with rheumatoid arthritis. The main study performed is denaturation of protein and inhibition of proteases assay. The result showed that pitavastatin and lovastatin administration during the active range of 62.5 – 500µg/ml indicated highest inhibitory profile on denaturation of proteins. The statins also exhibited maximum protease inhibitory activity during the percentage range of 12.28- 64.4% as compared to standard drug Diclofenac sodium. The recent evidence obtained from the study indicated both statins had little effect on accelerating rheumatoid arthritis. The study claimed that both Pitavastatin and lovastatin use promoted a significant role for developing rheumatoid arthritis.

Keywords: Pitavastatin, Lovastatin, Protein denaturation, Protease inhibition, Autoimmunity