Therapeutic Roles of Statins in Gynecology and Obstetrics.

Statins might be beneficial in various obstetric and gynecologic conditions.

Key Points

Highlight:

• Statins have anti-proliferative, anti-invasive, anti-inflammatory, and antiangiogenic effects.

Aim:

• To understand the impact of statins in various obstetric and gynecologic conditions, the authors reviewed the research regarding the beneficial effects of statins in the female reproductive system.

What`s Done Here:

• Literature searches using PubMed and EMBASE for articles related to statins in obstetrics and gynecology.

Key points:

• Statins inhibit mevalonate pathway and its downstream products.
• These downstream products play essential roles in signaling pathways such as membrane trafficking, motility, proliferation, differentiation, and cytoskeletal organization.
• Inhibition of these critical signaling pathways causes diverse effects;
• Anti-proliferative effects
• Anti-invasive effects
• Anti-inflammatory effects
• Anti-angiogenic effects
• Statins treatment has shown a beneficial impact in endometriosis, polycystic ovary syndrome, adhesion prevention, ovarian cancer, preeclampsia, and antiphospholipid syndrome.

Limitations:

• More investigations in efficacy, safety, and appropriate dosage are required.
• Further basic and translational studies are warranted to understand the underlying mechanisms of statin in these conditions.

Lay Summary

Statins are a class of drugs, which act by inhibiting the rate-limiting enzyme of cholesterol biosynthesis, which reduces lipid production. Therefore, statin has been used for the treatment of hypercholesterolemia and coronary artery disease.

This study published in Reproductive Sciences performed by Zeybek et al., and the researchers from the Department of Obstetrics & Gynecology, The University of Texas and the Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine, USA, summarize the literature search for articles related to statins in obstetrics and gynecology.

Accumulating evidence suggests that statins might be beneficial in various obstetric and gynecologic conditions. To understand current knowledge, the authors analyzed the current research regarding the beneficial effects of statin in the female reproductive system.

Statins inhibit mevalonate pathway and its downstream products such as geranyl pyrophosphate, farnesyl pyrophosphate, and geranylgeranyl pyrophosphate. These products are required for proper intracellular localization of several proteins, which play essential roles in signaling pathways by regulating membrane trafficking, motility, proliferation, differentiation, and cytoskeletal organization. Inhibition of these critical signaling pathways by statins treatment causes various effects including anti-proliferative, anti-invasive, anti-inflammatory, and antiangiogenic effects. Therefore, the growing evidence has shown that statins treatment has a beneficial impact on endometriosis, polycystic ovary syndrome, adhesion prevention, ovarian cancer, preeclampsia, and antiphospholipid syndrome.

Though there are numerous promising effects of statin in different gynecologic and obstetric conditions, more investigations in efficacy, safety, and appropriate dosage are required. Also, further basic and translational studies are warranted to understand the underlying mechanisms of statin in these conditions.

Research Source: https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/29320955