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Review
. 2020 Dec 31:2:100012.
doi: 10.1016/j.crphar.2020.100012. eCollection 2021.

Perspective insights of repurposing the pleiotropic efficacy of statins in neurodegenerative disorders: An expository appraisal

Aditi Bhat  1 , Harshita Dalvi  1 , Harsha Jain  1 , Nagarjun Rangaraj  1 , Shashi Bala Singh  2 , Saurabh Srivastava  1
Affiliations
Review

Perspective insights of repurposing the pleiotropic efficacy of statins in neurodegenerative disorders: An expository appraisal

Aditi Bhat et al. Curr Res Pharmacol Drug Discov. .

Abstract

Neurodegenerative disorders which affects a larger population pose a great clinical challenge. These disorders impact the quality of life of an individual by damaging the neurons, which are the unit cells of the brain. Clinicians are faced with the grave challenge of inhibiting the progression of these diseases as available treatment options fail to meet the clinical demand. Thus, treating the disease/disorder symptomatically is the Hobson's choice. The goal of the researchers is to introduce newer therapies in this segment and introducing a new molecule will take long years of development. Hence, drug repurposing/repositioning can be a better substitute in comparison to time consuming and expensive drug discovery and development cycle. Presently, a paradigm shift towards the re-purposing of drugs can be witnessed. Statins which have been previously approved as anti-hyperlipidemic agents are in the limelight of research for re-purposed drugs. Owing to their anti-inflammatory and antioxidant nature, statins act as neuroprotective in several brain disorders. Further they attenuate the amyloid plaques and protein aggregation which are the triggering factors in the Alzheimer's and Parkinson's respectively. In case of Huntington disease and Multiple sclerosis they help in improving the psychomotor symptoms and stimulate remyelination thus acting as neuroprotective. This article reviews the potential of statins in treating neurodegenerative disorders along with a brief discussion on the safety concerns associated with use of statins and human clinical trial data linked with re-tasking statins for neurodegenerative disorders along with the regulatory perspectives involved with the drug repositioning.

Keywords: Alzheimer disease; Huntington disease; Multiple sclerosis; Neurodegenerative disorders; Parkinson disease; Statins.

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Conflict of interest statement

The authors declare that they have no known competing financial interests or personal relationships that could have appeared to influence the work reported in this paper.

Figures

Image 1
Graphical abstract
Fig. 1
Fig. 1
Lipid lowering action of statins.
Fig. 2
Fig. 2
A detailed representation of mechanism of action of statins in neurodegenerative diseases like Alzheimer's disease, Parkinson's disease, Huntington disease and Multiple Sclerosis.
Fig. 3
Fig. 3
Pharmacokinetic properties of lovastatin, simvastatin, atorvastatin and pravastatin.
See this image and copyright information in PMC

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