Title:Therapeutic Effects of Statins: Promising Drug for Topical and
Transdermal Administration
Volume: 31
Issue: 21
Author(s): Fatemeh Zahedipour, Seyede Atefe Hosseini, Željko Reiner, Eugenia Tedeschi-Reiner, Tannaz Jamialahmadi and Amirhossein Sahebkar*
Affiliation:
- Applied Biomedical Research Center, Mashhad University of Medical Sciences, Mashhad, Iran
- Biotechnology Research Center, Pharmaceutical Technology Institute, Mashhad University of Medical Sciences, Mashhad, Iran
Keywords:
Statins, topical delivery, transdermal delivery, therapeutic effects, HMG-CoA, LDL-C.
Abstract: Statins are HMG-CoA reductase inhibitors and decrease plasma low-density
lipoprotein cholesterol (LDL-C) levels. They are well tolerated, and because of their
LDL-C-lowering effect, they are utilized to decrease the risk of atherosclerosis and cardiovascular
disease. However, statins have pleiotropic effects, including immunomodulatory,
anti-inflammatory, antioxidant, and anticancer. Currently, oral administration is the
only Food and Drug Administration (FDA)-approved route of administration for statins.
However, other administration routes have demonstrated promising results in different
pre-clinical and clinical studies. For instance, statins also seem beneficial in dermatitis,
psoriasis, vitiligo, hirsutism, uremic pruritus, and graft-versus-host disease. Topically applied
statins have been studied to treat seborrhea, acne, rhinophyma, and rosacea. They also
have beneficial effects in contact dermatitis and wound healing in animal studies,
(HIV) infection, osseointegration, porokeratosis, and some ophthalmologic diseases. Topical
and transdermal application of statins is a non-invasive drug administration method
that has shown significant results in bypassing the first-pass metabolism in the liver,
thereby reducing possible adverse effects. This study reviews the multifaceted molecular
and cellular impacts of statins, their topical and transdermal application, novel delivery
systems, such as nanosystems for topical and transdermal administration and the challenges
concerning this approach.