Despite the undeniable cholesterol lowering benefits of statin therapy, considerable heterogeneity exists in individual responses to the same treatment. Human gut bacteria are known to metabolize statins in vitro, but there is limited information on how microbiome composition may contribute to statin on-target and/or adverse effects. Here, the authors identify a novel blood-based biomarker for monitoring statin effects in two large, independent human cohorts. They identify gut microbiome features robustly associated with variable statin responses, both in terms of on-target (cholesterol lowering) and adverse (insulin resistance) effects. Furthermore, these microbiome-statin associations are independent of human genetic variation associated with statin response variability. These results support the potential clinical utility of monitoring the gut microbiome for optimizing drug therapy.
Dr Wilmanski from @gibbological 's lab explains how microbiome composition influences on-target and adverse responses to statins, which could prove useful in drug personalization. @MedCellPress
— Med by Cell Press (@MedCellPress) May 27, 2022
Full article here https://t.co/TTi828Eu3t pic.twitter.com/rnR2kkqNjO
>20% of Americans take statins to reduce their heart disease risk. In @MedCellPress, we show how variation in the microbiome explains heterogeneity in statin on- (LDL lowering) & off-target (insulin resistance) effects https://t.co/5YUzbFHX1j@isbsci @wrfseattle @TWilmanski
— Sean Gibbons (@gibbological) May 11, 2022
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