Review Article

Potential Effect of Statins on Mycobacterium tuberculosis Infection

Table 1

In vitro effects of statins in tuberculosis.

AuthorCell typeTreatmentStrainEffect

Montero et al.PBMCFluvastatin 5 μmHeat-inactivated M. tuberculosis H37Ra 10 μg/mLPromotes release of TH1 cytokines and promotes the activation of caspase 1
Lu et al.PBMCLovastatin 10 μm Fluvastatin 2 μmM. tuberculosis antigensInhibits the activation of γδ T cells
Parihar et al.PBMC and MDM from patients with hypercholesterolemia receiving statin therapySimvastatin 50 μMM. tuberculosis H37Rv MOI 5Significant reduction of mycobacterial growth
Parihar et al.Murine bone marrow-derived macrophagesSimvastatin 50 μMM. tuberculosis H37Rv MOI 5Significant reduction of mycobacterial growth, simvastatin treatment promotes phagosomal maturation and autophagy
Lobato et al.THP-1 macrophagesRifampin 1 μg/mL plus 0.2 μM atorvastatinM. tuberculosis H37Rv MOI 10 BCG strain of M. bovis MOI 50Atorvastatin has an additive effect with rifampin, reducing intracellular mycobacterial viability
Skerry et al.J774 macrophage-like cellsIsoniazid 0.05 μg/mL plus 5 μM simvastatinM. tuberculosis CDC1551 MOI 10Simvastatin treatment enhanced the bacterial killing activity of isoniazid at day 3 after infection
Dutta et al.THP-1 macrophages0.011 μM isoniazid, 0.012 μM rifampicin, and 162.5 μM pyrazinamide plus 0.1 μM simvastatinBioluminescent M. tuberculosis H37Rv MOI 0.05Simvastatin treatment significantly increased the bactericidal effect of isoniazid, rifampicin, and pyrazinamide alone or in combination

PBMC: peripheral blood mononuclear cells; MDM: monocyte-derived macrophages.