Abstract
Tuberculosis (TB) is a chronic infection caused by Mycobacterium tuberculosis (M. TB). It is transmitted through respiratory droplets. Increased cholesterol level is a predisposing factor for TB. M. TB uses cholesterol in the host macrophage membranes to bind and enter the macrophages. Statins are the drugs that are prescribed to hyperlipidemic patients to maintain their lipid levels in the normal range, thereby reducing the risk of stroke and cardiovascular events. Moreover, statins aid in reducing the levels of cholesterol in human macrophages. Therefore, a reduction in the membrane cholesterol minimizes the entry of TB pathogen inside macrophages. Furthermore, acting as vitamin D3 analogs and positively influencing pancreatic beta-cell function in a chronic diabetic state, statins minimize the occurrence of M. TB infection among diabetic population as well. This review aims to provide a comprehensive detail of all in vitro, in vivo, and retrospective studies that investigated the effects of statins in relation to the prevention or treatment of TB infection.
Highlights
BackgroundTuberculosis (TB) is a chronic infection caused by Mycobacterium tuberculosis
The results suggested that simvastatin can produce complementary anti-bacterial effects when combined with the first-line anti-TB regimen [42]
In a sub-analysis, the results demonstrated that subjects taking lovastatin had the least probability of developing active pulmonary TB (OR: 0.56, 95% CI: 0.46-0.68)
Summary
Tuberculosis (TB) is a chronic infection caused by Mycobacterium tuberculosis (M. TB). The results depicted a significant decrease in bacterial growth without alterations in cellular viability They conducted metabolic rescue experiments through confocal microscopy and western blot which demonstrated that statins decrease membrane cholesterol levels and promote phagosomal maturation and autophagy in macrophages. To determine whether statins can enhance the activity of anti-TB drugs against intracellular bacilli in macrophages, Dutta et al conducted another study in 2019 [13] Pravastatin exhibited the most potent adjunctive activity with the least toxicity by modulating phagosomal maturation characteristics in THP-1 macrophages These observations concluded that pravastatin can be an attractive candidate for host-directed, adjunctive TB therapy [13].
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