Statins As Anti-inflammatory Agents: A Potential Therapeutic Role in Sight-threatening Non-infectious Uveitis

Overview

Journal Porto Biomed J

Publisher Wolters Kluwer

Specialty Biomedical Engineering

Date 2020 Apr 8

PMID 32258583

Citations 12

Authors

Rose Gilbert

Ahmed Al-Janabi

Oren Tomkins-Netzer

Sue Lightman

Affiliations

Soon will be listed here.

Abstract

In addition to the known lipid-lowering effects, statins are now widely accepted to have anti-inflammatory and immunomodulatory effects. Adjunctive use of statins has proven beneficial in the context of a wide range of inflammatory diseases, including rheumatoid arthritis. Evidence also suggests that statins may also have utility in the management of uveitis, a form of sight threatening inflammation which occurs in the eye. In this article, we outline our rationale behind a clinical trial of simvastatin as a steroid-sparing agent in uveitis, to which patient recruitment started last year. Potential risks associated with the clinical use of statins, including putative effects on the eyes, are discussed.

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