Statins enhance circulating vitamin E

Statins have been shown to inhibit oxidative stress, however it is still unclear if they influence antioxidant status. We performed a retrospective analysis of oxidative stress, as assessed by serum levels of 8-hydroxy-2-deoxyguanosine (8-OHdG) and vitamin E, a known antioxidant, in patients with metabolic syndrome (n=112) treated (n=30) or not (n=82) with statins. Statin-treated patients showed higher levels of vitamin E (p=0.02) and lower 8-OHdG (p0.01) than statin-free patients. An inverse correlation between oxidative stress and vitamin E was observed (r=-0.670, p0.001). These preliminary data suggest that statins enhance the antioxidant status likely by inhibiting oxidative stress.