Lipophilic statins inhibit growth and reduce invasiveness of human endometrial stromal cells

Purpose To compare effects of lipid-soluble statins (simvastatin, lovastatin, atorvastatin) and water-soluble statin (pravastatin) on growth and invasiveness of human endometrial stromal (HES) cells.

Endometrial biopsies were collected during the proliferative phase from five volunteers. HES cells were isolated and cultured in the absence or in the presence of simvastatin, lovastatin, atorvastatin, and pravastatin. Effects of statins on DNA synthesis, cell viability, activity of caspases 3/7 and invasiveness were evaluated.

The proliferation of HES cells was significantly decreased by simvastatin (by 47–89%), lovastatin (by 46–78%), and atorvastatin (by 21–48%) in a concentration-dependent manner. Activity of executioner caspases 3/7 was significantly increased by simvastatin (by 10–25%), lovastatin (by 19%) and atorvastatin (by 7–10%) in a concentration-dependent manner. The greatest effects were observed in response to simvastatin. Accounting for the effects of statins on cell number, the invasiveness of HES cells was significantly decreased in cells treated with simvastatin (by 49%), lovastatin (by 54%), and atorvastatin (by 53%). Pravastatin had little or no effects on any of the tested endpoints.

Present findings demonstrate that only lipid-soluble among tested statins were effective in inhibition of growth and invasiveness of HES cells. These findings may have clinical relevance in treatment of endometriosis. Similar content being viewed by others

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Med Sci Monit. 2013;19:534–9. https://doi.org/10.12659/MSM.883967. Funding This work was supported by the Eunice Kennedy Shriver National Institute of Child Health and Human Development Grant U54 HD052668. Author information Authors and Affiliations Corresponding author Ethics declarations Ethical approval All procedures performed in studies involving human participants were in accordance with the ethical standards of the institutional and/or national research committee and with the 1964 Helsinki declaration and its later amendments or comparable ethical standards. Conflict of interest The authors declare that they have no conflict of interest. Additional information Publisher’s Note Springer Nature remains neutral with regard to jurisdictional claims in published maps and institutional affiliations. Rights and permissions About this article Cite this article Sokalska, A., Hawkins, A.B., Yamaguchi, T. et al. Lipophilic statins inhibit growth and reduce invasiveness of human endometrial stromal cells. J Assist Reprod Genet 36, 535–541 (2019). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10815-018-1352-9 Received: Accepted: Published: Version of record: Issue date: DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s10815-018-1352-9