title: Pitavastatin inhibits hepatic steatosis and fibrosis in non-alcoholic steatohepatitis model rats.
abstract: OBJECTIVE
  Non-alcoholic steatohepatitis (NASH) may progress to liver cirrhosis, and NASH patients with liver cirrhosis are at risk of developing hepatocellular carcinoma. Statins, 3-hydroxy-3-methyglutaryl-coenzyme A reductase inhibitors, are well known to reduce low-density lipoprotein cholesterol and reduce the incidence of coronary heart disease and other major vascular events by anti-inflammatory and antifibrotic effects, and antiproliferative properties in colorectal cancers have also been reported. Recently, statins have been reported to improve hepatic steatosis; however, the effect on fibrosis is controversial.
  
  
  METHODS
  The effects of pitavastatin (one of the strongest statins) were examined using a choline-deficient L-amino acid-defined (CDAA) diet liver fibrosis model.
  
  
  RESULTS
  Pitavastatin significantly attenuated increases in serum aspartate aminotransferase, alanine aminotransferase, hepatic steatosis, oxidative stress, pre-neoplastic lesions (glutathione S-transferase placental form-positive lesions), expression of cytokines, such as tumor necrosis factor-α and transforming growth factor-β1, and the expression of tissue inhibitor of metalloproteinase-1, tissue inhibitor of metalloproteinase-2 and type I procollagen genes followed by attenuating fibrosis of the liver of CDAA-fed rats.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  These results indicate that pitavastatin may inhibit steatosis, hepatic fibrosis and carcinogenesis in rat model of NASH.
authors.affiliation: Departments of Gastroenterology and MetabolismExperimental Pathology and Tumor BiologyCell Biology and Anatomy, Nagoya City University Graduate School of Medical Sciences, Nagoya, Aichi, Japan.
authors.forename: Tomokatsu
authors.initials: T
authors.lastname: Miyaki
authors.forename: Shunsuke
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Nojiri
authors.forename: Noboru
authors.initials: N
authors.lastname: Shinkai
authors.forename: Atsunori
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Kusakabe
authors.forename: Kentaro
authors.initials: K
authors.lastname: Matsuura
authors.forename: Etsuko
authors.initials: E
authors.lastname: Iio
authors.forename: Satoru
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Takahashi
authors.forename: Ge
authors.initials: G
authors.lastname: Yan
authors.forename: Kazuo
authors.initials: K
authors.lastname: Ikeda
authors.forename: Takashi
authors.initials: T
authors.lastname: Joh