<br>Statins for heart failure: where to go from here?

Stephan von Haehling; Stefan D. Anker

ISSN: 1734-1922

Archives of Medical Science Special Issues

Current issue Archive Archives of Medical Science

4/2007

Send email

Copy url:

abstract:

Statins for heart failure: where to go from here?

Stephan von Haehling

,

Stefan D. Anker

Arch Med Sci 2007; 3, 4A: S133-S141

Online publish date: 2008/01/30

View full text Get citation

Statins, also known as 3-hydroxy-3-methylglutaryl-coenzyme A reductase inhibitors, confer a number of actions beyond mere cholesterol reduction. These so-called pleiotropic effects had been proposed to exert beneficial effects in patients with chronic heart failure, because improvements in endothelial function, decreases in inflammatory markers, and the release of endothelial progenitor cells had been reported with statin use. The inhibition of the small monomeric GTPase Rho appears to be involved in many statin-mediated beneficial cholesterol-independent effects. The results of recent clinical studies with statins in patients with chronic heart failure are somewhat mixed. Some of the published data can potentially be explained by misconceptions about pleiotropic effects as such. This article discusses statin-mediated pleiotropic effects, illustrates the example of the specific Rho kinase inhibitor fasudil, and describes the available results from statin studies in chronic heart failure.

keywords:

Statins for heart failure: where to go from here?

Stephan von Haehling , Stefan D. Anker

statins, heart failure, Rho kinase, fasudil, inflammation

Stephan von Haehling

,

Stefan D. Anker