The Effect Of Rosuvastatin On Complement, Complement Regulatory Protein And Aortic Pulse Wave Velocity In Patients With Hyperlipidemia

Objective To investigate the effect of rosuvastatin on complement, complement regulatory proteins and aortic pulse wave velocity in patients with hyperlipidemia.Methods 45 patients with hyperlipidemia were received placebo for 4 weeks and rosuvastatin(5mg/d) for 8 weeks. Serum C3,C4 were tested with rate nephelometry and the expression of CD55,CD59 on leucocytes were evaluated with flow cytometry before and after rosuvastatin therapy.and the factors which might affect the expression of complement and complement regulatory proteins were investigated. Aortic flexibility was assessed by brachial-ankle pulse wave velocity(baPWV) which was measured using an automatic device (BP-203RPE,Colin ,Japan).Results After rosuvastatin therapy, TC,TG,LDL-C were reduced significantly(P﹤0.01). The mean fluorescence intensity(MFI) of CD59 on lymphocytes, monocytes and granulocytes increased(69.41±23.57 vs 78.88±22.30, 90.90±20.75 vs 101.30±27.37, 396.26±147.23 vs 528.27±211.80, P﹤0.05,﹤0.05 and﹤0.01 respectively).The expression of complment regulatory protein was not correlated with blood lipid, body mass index(BMI) and complement. The serum C3,C4 levels have no significant difference. baPWV was decreased significantly compared with those before taking drugs( right baPWV 1571.47±261.05 vs 1480.71±290.27 , left baPWV 1595.87±279.29 vs 1481.32±306.03 P﹤0.001). Multivariate regression analysis demonstrated that systolic blood pressure had the close relationship with baPWV(P﹤0.01).Conclusion Rosuvastatin has no effect on complement C3,C4. The expression of CD59 is up-regulated after rosuvastatin treatment independently of blood lipids. Up-regulation of CD59 expression might contribute to the therapy of atherosclerosis. Rosuvastatin may improve artery elasticity in patients with hyperlipidemia.