MicroRNA-20a-5p Downregulation by Atorvastatin: A Potential Mechanism Involved in Lipid-Lowering Therapy

• Main Authors: Leal, K. (Author), Paez, I. (Author), Prado, Y. (Author), Rojas, G. (Author), Saavedra, K. (Author), Saavedra, N. (Author), Salazar, L.A (Author), Ubilla, C.G (Author)
• Format: Article
• Language: English
• Published: MDPI 2022
• Subjects: atorvastatin; cardiovascular diseases; hypercholesterolemia; microRNA; statin
• Online Access: View Fulltext in Publisher

 The treatment of hypercholesterolemia is mainly based on statins. However, the response to pharmacological therapy shows high inter-individual variability, resulting in variable effects in both lipid lowering and risk reduction. Thus, a better understanding of the lipid-lowering mechanisms and response variability at the molecular level is required. Previously, we demonstrated a deregulation of the microRNA expression profile in HepG2 cells treated for 24 h with atorvastatin, using a microarray platform. In the present study, we evaluated the expression of hsa-miR-17-5p, hsa-miR-20a-5p and hsa-miR-106a-5p in hypercholesterolemic patients before and after atorvastatin treatment and in HepG2 cells treated for 24 h with atorvastatin The miRNA hsa-mir-20a-5p was repressed after atorvastatin treatment in hypercholesteremic subjects and in HepG2 cells in culture. Repression of hsa-mir-20a-5p increased LDLR gene and protein expression in HepG2 cells, while hsa-mir-20a-5p overexpression reduced LDLR gene and protein expression. © 2022 by the authors. Licensee MDPI, Basel, Switzerland.