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In Vitro Investigation of Statin Effects on Genes Associated with Severe COVID-19 in Cancerous and Non-Cancerous

Adriana Kapustová1, Patrik Macášek1, Bibiána Baďurová1,2

  • 1Institute of Medical Biology, Genetics and Clinical Genetics, Faculty of Medicine, Comenius University, Sasinkova 4, 811 08 Bratislava, Slovakia.

Biomedicines
|July 29, 2025
PubMed

Insights

Statins may influence COVID-19 progression by affecting immune response genes. While not directly altering key COVID-19 genes like ACE2, they impact pathways involved in inflammation and viral persistence.

Area of Science:

  • Molecular Biology
  • Pharmacology
  • Virology

Background:

  • Individuals with obesity, diabetes, cardiovascular disease, or hypertension are at higher risk for severe COVID-19.
  • Statins are commonly prescribed for hypercholesterolemia in these at-risk populations.
  • Statins possess pleiotropic effects beyond cholesterol reduction, potentially impacting viral diseases.

Purpose of the Study:

  • To investigate the effects of all eight existing statins on genes associated with complicated COVID-19.
  • To analyze statin impact on genes like APOE, ACE2, innate antiviral immunity, and respiratory failure genes.

Main Methods:

  • Re-analysis of existing whole-genome DNA microarray data from pancreatic cancer cells (MiaPaCa-2).
  • Re-analysis of existing whole-transcriptome data from adipose tissue-derived mesenchymal stem cells (AD-MSC).
  • Focused analysis on statin-altered gene expression related to COVID-19 severity.

Main Results:

  • No statin-induced changes observed in APOE, ACE2, or respiratory failure-associated genes.
  • Some statins altered the expression of genes interacting with key COVID-19-related proteins.
  • Effective statins in vitro modulated expression of IL-6, IL-8, and NF-kB interaction partners, potentially affecting viral persistence.

Conclusions:

  • Statins modulate multiple biological pathways concurrently.
  • These pathways include those that may support and others that may suppress COVID-19 progression.
  • The net effect of statins on COVID-19 requires further investigation.

Keywords:
ACE2APOECOVID-19gene expressionmicroarray analysesstatins

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