Post by Christine on Feb 25, 2008 6:15:39 GMT -5
Last year, my MD told me that statins were as safe as aspirin, and that everyone should be on them. Perhaps his opinion might be hasty?
Kip
www.boston.com/news/nation/washington/articles/2008/02/25/tests_may_explain_statin_trouble/
Tests may explain statin trouble
Drug interactions could damage cells
By Maggie Fox, Reuters | February 25, 2008
WASHINGTON - A new panel of tests aimed at finding out how drugs may damage cells has turned up a series of interactions that may explain some of the serious side effects of statin drugs, researchers said yesterday.
Statins, the wildly popular cholesterol-lowering drugs, may interact with at least one blood pressure drug to damage the mitochondria, the powerhouses of cells, the researchers reported in the journal Nature Biotechnology.
Their study also may lead to the development of drugs to treat diabetes and diseases of aging as well as better ways to screen for drug side effects, the researchers said.
Vamsi Mootha of the Broad Institute at Harvard University and the Massachusetts Institute of Technology said the team had made its new database freely available to other scientists to use for screening drugs.
The mitochondria are structures in cells that make adenosine triphosphate, or ATP, which helps power cells.
Mootha's team tested more than 2,000 drugs on cells to see how they might interfere with this process.
Their test looks at gene function, ATP levels, and other measures of how well the mitochondria are working.
Many patients who take statins have reported side effects that include muscle pain and weakness. The cause is not well understood, but Mootha has long suspected the mitochondria are involved. The effects have been hard to pin down because studies of different groups have produced conflicting results.
Mootha's team said its findings showed some statins lower ATP levels and interfere with the mitochondria.
Of the six statins present in the screening collection, three - fluvastatin, lovastatin, and simvastatin - produced strong drops in cellular ATP levels and mitochondrial activity, the study said.
Fluvastatin is sold by Novartis under the brand name Lescol, lovastatin is sold under the brand name Mevacor, and simvastatin is sold as Zocor.
Three others - atorvastatin, made by Pfizer under the brand name Lipitor; pravastatin, or Pravachol, made by Bristol-Myers Squibb; and rosuvastatin, sold under the Crestor brand name by AstraZeneca - had little effect, they said.
"We asked what pattern of dysfunction they cause in the mitochondria," Mootha said in a telephone interview. "Once we figured out what the pattern was, we asked what other FDA-approved drugs give rise to that same pattern of mitochondrial dysfunction."
They found a few. "We were struck by the fact that one of these nearest-neighbor drugs is propranolol, a widely used antihypertensive agent," the study said.
Propranolol is a so-called beta blocker drug sold by Wyeth under the brand name Inderal, and is available generically.
"That was a bit of a surprise," Mootha said. "And it is important because so many patients are on a statin as well as blood pressure medication."
Mootha cautioned that his group has worked only in batches of muscle cells grown in the lab, and that far more tests are needed.
Kip
www.boston.com/news/nation/washington/articles/2008/02/25/tests_may_explain_statin_trouble/
Tests may explain statin trouble
Drug interactions could damage cells
By Maggie Fox, Reuters | February 25, 2008
WASHINGTON - A new panel of tests aimed at finding out how drugs may damage cells has turned up a series of interactions that may explain some of the serious side effects of statin drugs, researchers said yesterday.
Statins, the wildly popular cholesterol-lowering drugs, may interact with at least one blood pressure drug to damage the mitochondria, the powerhouses of cells, the researchers reported in the journal Nature Biotechnology.
Their study also may lead to the development of drugs to treat diabetes and diseases of aging as well as better ways to screen for drug side effects, the researchers said.
Vamsi Mootha of the Broad Institute at Harvard University and the Massachusetts Institute of Technology said the team had made its new database freely available to other scientists to use for screening drugs.
The mitochondria are structures in cells that make adenosine triphosphate, or ATP, which helps power cells.
Mootha's team tested more than 2,000 drugs on cells to see how they might interfere with this process.
Their test looks at gene function, ATP levels, and other measures of how well the mitochondria are working.
Many patients who take statins have reported side effects that include muscle pain and weakness. The cause is not well understood, but Mootha has long suspected the mitochondria are involved. The effects have been hard to pin down because studies of different groups have produced conflicting results.
Mootha's team said its findings showed some statins lower ATP levels and interfere with the mitochondria.
Of the six statins present in the screening collection, three - fluvastatin, lovastatin, and simvastatin - produced strong drops in cellular ATP levels and mitochondrial activity, the study said.
Fluvastatin is sold by Novartis under the brand name Lescol, lovastatin is sold under the brand name Mevacor, and simvastatin is sold as Zocor.
Three others - atorvastatin, made by Pfizer under the brand name Lipitor; pravastatin, or Pravachol, made by Bristol-Myers Squibb; and rosuvastatin, sold under the Crestor brand name by AstraZeneca - had little effect, they said.
"We asked what pattern of dysfunction they cause in the mitochondria," Mootha said in a telephone interview. "Once we figured out what the pattern was, we asked what other FDA-approved drugs give rise to that same pattern of mitochondrial dysfunction."
They found a few. "We were struck by the fact that one of these nearest-neighbor drugs is propranolol, a widely used antihypertensive agent," the study said.
Propranolol is a so-called beta blocker drug sold by Wyeth under the brand name Inderal, and is available generically.
"That was a bit of a surprise," Mootha said. "And it is important because so many patients are on a statin as well as blood pressure medication."
Mootha cautioned that his group has worked only in batches of muscle cells grown in the lab, and that far more tests are needed.