Effect of Statin Therapy on C-reactive Protein Levels in Patients With Chronic Obstructive Lung Disease (COPD)

VA Loma Linda Health Care System

Status and phase

Completed

Phase 1

Conditions

Inflammation

COPD

Treatments

Drug: simvastatin

Study type

Interventional

Funder types

Other U.S. Federal agency

Identifiers

NCT00655993

00746

Details and patient eligibility

About

Hypothesis for this pilot study is that simvastatin will lower the levels of CRP and ET-1 in COPD patients.

Full description

Patients with chronic obstructive lung disease (COPD) have an ongoing systemic inflammation, which can be assessed by measuring C-reactive protein (CRP). CRP is found to be a strong and independent predictor of future COPD outcomes. Statins are a class of cholesterol lowering drugs that decrease mortality from cardiovascular disease and stroke. In addition, they have anti-inflammatory, anti-thrombotic and immunomodulatory properties. Statins lower C-reactive protein by the ability to reduce the production of interleukin (IL)-6, the cytokine that activates the acute phase CRP response.

Thus the rationale for this study is to evaluate effect of statins on the levels of CRP and ET-1 in COPD patients.

Enrollment

30 patients

Sex

All

Ages

40 to 79 years old

Volunteers

No Healthy Volunteers

Inclusion criteria

Medically optimized COPD patients
Age 40-79 years.
serum CRP levels >3mg/l

Exclusion criteria

Current smoker
COPD exacerbation in the last 2 months.
Active hepatic or severe renal dysfunction.
connective tissue disease, chronic inflammatory disease, malignancy, any acute illness, leukocytosis (>10,000 white blood cells) or thrombocytosis (>450,000 platelets).
Recent h/o myocardial infarction, angina in the last 6 months.
Pregnancy.