Janicko M, Drazilova S, Pella D, Fedacko J, Jarcuska P. Pleiotropic effects of statins in the diseases of the liver. World J Gastroenterol 2016; 22(27): 6201-6213 [PMID: 27468210 DOI: 10.3748/wjg.v22.i27.6201]
Corresponding Author of This Article
Peter Jarcuska, MD, PhD, Associate Professor, 1st Department of Internal medicine, Pavol Jozef Safarik University in Kosice, Louis Pasteur University hospital, 04001 Kosice, Slovakia. petjarc@yahoo.com
Research Domain of This Article
Gastroenterology & Hepatology
Article-Type of This Article
Review
Open-Access Policy of This Article
This article is an open-access article which was selected by an in-house editor and fully peer-reviewed by external reviewers. It is distributed in accordance with the Creative Commons Attribution Non Commercial (CC BY-NC 4.0) license, which permits others to distribute, remix, adapt, build upon this work non-commercially, and license their derivative works on different terms, provided the original work is properly cited and the use is non-commercial. See: http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc/4.0/
World J Gastroenterol. Jul 21, 2016; 22(27): 6201-6213 Published online Jul 21, 2016. doi: 10.3748/wjg.v22.i27.6201
Pleiotropic effects of statins in the diseases of the liver
Martin Janicko, Sylvia Drazilova, Daniel Pella, Jan Fedacko, Peter Jarcuska
Martin Janicko, Daniel Pella, Jan Fedacko, Peter Jarcuska, 1st Department of Internal medicine, Pavol Jozef Safarik University in Kosice, Louis Pasteur University hospital, 04001 Kosice, Slovakia
Sylvia Drazilova, Department of Internal Medicine, Hospital Poprad, Poprad, 05801 Poprad, Slovakia
Author contributions: Janicko M and Jarcuska P specified the topic, wrote the article and led the other coauthors; Drazilova S, Fedacko J and Pella D performed the search and analysis of the sources and wrote initial drafts of the chapters.
Conflict-of-interest statement: The authors report no conflict of interest.
Open-Access: This article is an open-access article which was selected by an in-house editor and fully peer-reviewed by external reviewers. It is distributed in accordance with the Creative Commons Attribution Non Commercial (CC BY-NC 4.0) license, which permits others to distribute, remix, adapt, build upon this work non-commercially, and license their derivative works on different terms, provided the original work is properly cited and the use is non-commercial. See: http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc/4.0/
Correspondence to: Peter Jarcuska, MD, PhD, Associate Professor, 1st Department of Internal medicine, Pavol Jozef Safarik University in Kosice, Louis Pasteur University hospital, 04001 Kosice, Slovakia. petjarc@yahoo.com
Telephone: +42-1556403515
Received: March 27, 2016 Peer-review started: March 28, 2016 First decision: May 12, 2016 Revised: May 26, 2016 Accepted: June 15, 2016 Article in press: June 15, 2016 Published online: July 21, 2016 Processing time: 109 Days and 19 Hours
Core Tip
Core tip: The greatest benefit of statins seems to be in patients with advanced liver disease. Observational studies suggest that statins have an antifibrotic effect possibly through the prevention of hepatic sinusoidal microthrombosis, reduce the rate of infections and decrease the risk of hepatocellular carcinoma in all cirrhotics, but particularly in patients with chronic hepatitis B and C. Data from randomized controlled trials confirmed that statins decrease hepatic vein pressure gradient, prevent re-bleeding, and improve the survival of patients after variceal bleeding. Statins also seem to prolong the survival of patients with advanced hepatocellular carcinoma even more than those treated with Sorafenib, which is the current standard of care for these patients.
