Background: Lipid-lowering agents are known to reduce longterm mortality in p atients with stable angina or multiple risk factors. However, the effects of lip id-lowering treatment on inflammatory process during and immediately after the acute phase of unstable angina remain unclear. In this study we assessed the eff ects of low-dose atorvastatin treatment, on inflammatory process in patients ad mitted for unstable angina with low cholesterol level. Methods: Forty-seven nor mocholesterolemic patients with unstable angina were randomized into two groups, and received atorvastatin 10 mg/day(n=24) or no statin(n=23) for 6 weeks. Circu lating levels of inteleukin 6(IL-6), monocyte chemoattractant protein-1(MCP-1 ), tumor necrosis factor alpha(TNF-α) and soluble vascular cell adhesion molec ule(sVCAM-1) were measured by their admission, and at the 1st and 6th week of t he study. Results: Serum levels of MCP-1 and sVCAM-1 were significantly increa sed in the control group(p< 0.05) while remained unaffected in the atorvastatin -treated group six weeks after admission. However, IL-6 and TNF-αlevels were similarly decreased in both atorvastatin-treated and control groups. Conclusio n: Low-dose atorvastatin treatment modifies inflammatory process in patients wi th unstable angina and low cholesterol level, an effect seen at 6 weeks but not 1 week after admission.
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