Summary:
Statins have multiple modes of action - called "pleiotropic."
One mode is antibiotic.
Would you take an antibiotic for life? If you are taking statins, that is what you are doing, and the drug companies know this.
Infections, Inflammation "Cholesterol," and Heart Disease
Chlamydia pneumoniae has the most data to show a correlation with atherosclerosis. This pathogen enters through the respiratory tract and is thought to be the third leading cause of upper respiratory tract infections worldwide, with an estimated 50 percent of the population exposed. Circulating monocytes then bring the organism into the vascular wall and induce inflammation. Animal studies with mice and rabbits show that Chlamydia pneumoniae infection, a contributor to hypercholesterolemia (elevated total cholesterol), can induce atherosclerosis. Moreover, giving azithromycin blocks this effect.
Translate this to humans. One study of 220 patients after a heart attack showed that positive Chlamydia pneumoniae antibody titers increase the risk of future events and that treating those patients subsequently with azithromycin reduces the risk down to the level of patients with negative antibody titers (the chlamydial organism no longer detected).
Immunization for Heart Disease
How about the prospect of developing an immunization against one of these organisms? Could a cure for Chlamydia pneumoniae actually result in a cure for atherosclerosis?
Nobody knows the answer to that question. Researchers are indeed in the process of developing an immunization for heart disease! Interestingly, it has nothing to do with Chlamydia pneumoniae. A protein antigen that inflammatory T cells react to is being targeted to prevent the inflammatory response they create. I believe we know how that will go based on COVID. Sucker beware!
Pleiotropic Effects of Statins - So what’s the deal?
In my search to see if HMG-CoA reductase inhibitors (statins), in laboratory models have ever been studied to see if they eliminate Chlamydia pneumoniae, I came up empty. Also, no data in patients with vascular disease determines if statin therapy is more effective in those seropositive for Chlamydia pneumoniae than seronegative individuals.
Dr. Nalin continues. "OK, fine, maybe it is a bit far-fetched to say that there is, perhaps, one lone organism causing all of atherosclerosis. Multiple factors likely contribute, causing the endothelial injury that starts the process, but infection probably plays a role somewhere along the line. However, could you imagine if there was ONE predominant infectious etiology? A potential cure for heart disease, stroke, and peripheral vascular disease could be developed! I see a Nobel Prize opportunity ... discover the real reason for the pleiotropic effects of statins!"
When you read subsequent blogs on infection, you will see that the Nobel Prize work has already been completed. It is not the least bit "far-fetched." It just has not been recognized in the modern medical system as yet.
Index & Upcoming (short) blogs on cholesterol and statins
Number 1: Cholesterol fun (true) facts - completed
Number 2: Is the actual cholesterol molecule important? c - completed
Number 3: What is an optimal TC value? Remember, no one knows their actual cholesterol molecule value. - completed
Number 4: Surprising fact about cholesterol as an antibiotic - completed
Number 5: TC simple math - dumb doctors - completed
Number 6: What is LDL really? - completed
Number 7: Statins - do they lower the cholesterol molecule? - completed
Number 8: What did we learn from the new "biologics" to lower "cholesterol" - completed
Number 9: Niacin and other "cholesterol" management treatments - completed
Number 10: What did Natasha Campbell-McBride say about cholesterol/lipids? - completed
Number 11: What is a QALY, and how does it relate to "cholesterol"? - completed
Number 12: Idiot doctor from Johns Hopkins, Roger Blumenthal - completed
Number 13: Statins cause Alzheimer's and ALS - THEHIGHWIRE - completed
Number 14: Statin drugs CAUSE diabetes - completed
Number 15: The statin merry-go-round to poor cardiovascular outcomes - completed
Number 16: How statins CAUSE heart disease - completed
Number 17: How statins CAUSE heart disease - part 2 - completed
Number 18: Women and statin drugs - completed
Number 19: If not "cholesterol," then what? - completed
Number 20: If not "cholesterol," then what? - part 2
Number 21: Who says statins do NOT extend life?
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