The cardioprotective effects of statins.

Many large randomized clinical trials have demonstrated that statins are effective in terms of prevention of cardiovascular events. It has been presumed that these beneficial effects could be due to not only improved plasma lipid profiles but also to the direct actions on the vascular wall. In addition to the direct vascular protective effects, several lines of experimental evidence have been accumulated that statins have also cardioprotective effects against ischaemia/reperfusion injury. This effect appears to be a class-effect and activation and up-regulation of eNOS by statins play an important role.