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JAC Advance Access originally published online on March 4, 2008
Journal of Antimicrobial Chemotherapy 2008 61(6):1400; doi:10.1093/jac/dkn089
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© The Author 2008. Published by Oxford University Press on behalf of the British Society for Antimicrobial Chemotherapy. All rights reserved. For Permissions, please e-mail: journals.permissions@oxfordjournals.org

Letter to the Editor

Comment on: Unexpected antimicrobial effect of statins

David R. Nalin*

100 Lucky Hill Road, West Chester, PA 19382, USA

* Tel/Fax: +1-6104301604; E-mail: davidnalin{at}aol.com

Keywords: Chlamydia , atherosclerosis , simvastatin

Sir,

Jerwood and Cohen1 observed a significant antimicrobial effect of simvastatin against Staphylococcus aureus, but did not report testing for activity against Chlamydia pneumoniae. Chlamydial organisms have been well documented to be present in the vicinity of atheromatous plaques.2 To date, studies have had mixed results in trying to demonstrate the benefits of antichlamydial microbicides on atheromatous disease, but this may relate to the ability, or lack thereof, of a given agent to penetrate to where the organisms are located as well as antimicrobial spectrum in vivo, and to aspects of study design. A recent trial reported benefits of combination therapy including levofloxacin and probucol.3 It seems possible, in the light of recent reports seemingly disassociating the cholesterol-lowering ability of ‘anticholesterol’ drugs per se from their effects on atheromatous plaque formation (e.g. Zetia in the ‘ENHANCE’ study4), that the demonstrated benefits of certain statins in reducing progression of atheromatous disease may partly relate to their antimicrobial efficacy against chlamydial organisms in vitro and in vivo in addition to their immunomodulatory and anti-inflammatory properties. It would be interesting to test for such antichlamydial activity.


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1 Jerwood S, Cohen J. Unexpected antimicrobial effect of statins. J Antimicrob Chemother (2008) 61:362–4.[Abstract/Free Full Text]

2 Mussa FF, Chai H, Wang X, et al. Chlamydia pneumoniae and vascular disease: an update. J Vasc Surg (2006) 43:1301–7.[CrossRef][Web of Science][Medline]

3 Sawayama Y, Tatsukawa M, Kikuchi K, et al. Effect on carotid atherosclerosis of probucol plus levofloxacin for Chlamydia pneumoniae infection. J Infect Chemother (2007) 13:92–8.[CrossRef][Medline]

4 Merck-Schering-Plough Pharmaceuticals Enhance Study Misses Significance. www.fiercebiotech.com/press-releases/merck-scheringplough-pharmaceuticals-provides-results-enhance-trial (22 February 2008, date last accessed).


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This Article
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Right arrow All Versions of this Article:
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dkn089v1
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