Effect of statin use on inflammation and immune activation biomarkers in HIV-infected persons on effective anti-retroviral therapy.

BACKGROUND: Immune activation and inflammation are hallmarks of chronic HIV infection and are etiologically linked to major causes of morbidity and mortality among HIV-infected persons, including coronary artery disease and cancer. Systemic immune activation is dampened, but not resolved, with use of combination antiretroviral therapy (cART). Statins are cardioprotective drugs that also appear to have immunomodulatory and anti-inflammatory properties. We sought to understand the association between statin use, cART, and levels of circulating immune markers in a longitudinal cohort study.

METHODS: From 2004-2009, statin use was ascertained in male participants of the Multicenter AIDS Cohort Study (MACS) using interviewer-administered questionnaires. Twenty-four circulating markers of immune activation and inflammation were measured in archived serial samples from a subset of cohort members using multiplex assays. Propensity-adjusted generalized gamma models were used to compare biomarkers' distributions by statin use, and multivariable linear regression models were used to assess the effect of initiating statin on these biomarkers.

RESULTS: Overall, 1,031 cART-exposed individuals with HIV infection were included in this study. Statin use was reported by 31.5% of cART-exposed participants. Compared to non-statin users on cART, statin users on cART had lower levels of IP-10, IL-10 and IL-12p70, and the effect of statin use was decreased in participants using lipophilic statins (atorvastatin, simvastatin, fluvastatin, or lovastatin); these results were statistically significant (p<0.05). Among cART users not on aspirin, starting statins decreased levels of hsCRP, IL-12p70, and IL-6.

CONCLUSION: Statin therapy is associated with reduced levels of certain biomarkers of immune activation and inflammation in cART users, which may contribute to a lower burden of disease.