Statins provide protective immune benefits for females
Cholesterol tends to get a bad rap through its association with cardiovascular disease. But its role in the body is much more nuanced.When we have too much cholesterol, it can build up in the walls of our arteries and cause cardiovascular disease. But cholesterol molecules play a critical role in our cells? structure and signaling pathways, and ? as scientists are beginning to understand ? immune function.Catherine Andersen, associate professor of nutritional sciences in the College of Agriculture, Health and Natural Resources, recently published her findings uncovering a new piece of this puzzle in Frontiers in Medicine. Andersen found that statins, commonly prescribed lipid-lowering drugs, provide a protective immune function in females.Previous studies in cell and animal models showed that lipids play an important role in modulating immune cells, but there was little evidence of this relationship in humans.To investigate this connection, Andersen looked to see if there was an association between serum lipid levels (which include measures of total cholesterol, HDL- and LDL-cholesterol, and triglycerides) and antinuclear antibodies (ANA). ANA are the most common type of autoantibodies, and serve as diagnostic and predictive markers of current or future autoimmune disease, in addition to cardiovascular disease and death. The presence of ANA can also be an indicator of immune activation or dysfunction in response to cell turnover or pathogens ? including SARS...
