Simvastatin in Pulmonary Hypertension

Abstracts are not currently available in GtR for all funded research. This is normally because the abstract was not required at the time of proposal submission, but may be because it included sensitive information such as personal details.

This is a translational medicine study designed to investigate the use of a statin as a novel approach for improving the treatment of patients with pulmonary arterial hypertension (PAH) of unknown cause and PAH associated with scleroderma. The prognosis for these patients is very poor and current treatments are inadequate. It is widely recognised that statins have pleiotropic effects in addition to their lipid lowering properties. Studies in cell culture and animal models suggest that simvastatin may impact on many of the biochemical processes driving pulmonary vascular remodelling, the key pathology in PAH. This study will examine the effect of simvastatin on measures of cardiac function, exercise capacity, inflammation and oxidative stress in patients with PAH. It will inform the potential therapeutic benefits and risks from statin treatment, and the mechanisms underlying the response in this condition. If effective, simvastatin offers a relatively inexpensive treatment that may delay the need for more expensive and complicated therapies, such as prostanoids, and merit a larger outcome study.