Effect of statin treatments on highly pathogenic avian influenza H5N1, seasonal and H1N1pdm09 virus infections in BALB/c mice

Abstract

Statins are used to control elevated cholesterol or hypercholesterolemia, but have previously been reported to have antiviral properties. Aims: To show efficacy of statins in various influenza virus mouse models. Materials & methods: BALB/c mice were treated intraperitoneally or orally with several types of statins (simvastatin, lovastatin, mevastatin, pitavastatin, atorvastatin or rosuvastatin) at various concentrations before or after infection with either influenza A/Duck/MN/1525/81 H5N1 virus, influenza A/Vietnam/1203/2004 H5N1 virus, influenza A/Victoria/3/75 H3N2 virus, influenza A/NWS/33 H1N1 virus or influenza A/CA/04/09 H1N1pdm09 virus. Results: The statins administered intraperitoneally or orally at any dose did not significantly enhance the total survivors relative to untreated controls. In addition, infected mice receiving any concentration of statin were not protected against weight loss due to the infection. None of the statins significantly increased the mean day of death relative to mice in the placebo treatment group. Furthermore, the statins had relatively few ameliorative effects on lung pathology or lung weights at day 3 and 6 after virus exposure, although mice treated with simvastatin did have improved lung function as measured by arterial saturated oxygen levels in one experiment. Conclusion: Statins showed relatively little efficacy in any mouse model used by any parameter tested.