In vitro and in vivo evidence of a decrease in vascular smooth muscle cell (SMC) migration induced by 3-hydroxy-3-methylglutaryl coenzyme A (HMG-CoA) reductase inhibitors has been reported. When added to SMC cultures for 6 hours, the HMG-CoA reductase inhibitors fluvastatin, simvastatin, and pravastatin at I mu mol/L resulted in a 48%, 50%, and 16% suppression, respectively, of human coronary SMC migration: these reductions mirrored the suppression in oxidative stress induced by I mu mol/L lysophosphatidylcholine (lyso-PC) of 50%, 53% and 19%, respectively. The hydroxylated metabolites of fluvastatin, M-2 and M-3, at 1 mu mol/L also suppressed the enhancement of SMC migration by 58% and 45% and the increase in oxidative stress induced by lyso-PC of 58% and 49%, respectively. Lyso-PC activated phospholipase D and protein kinase C (PKC), and this activation was also suppressed by HMG-CoA reductase inhibitors. The inhibition of phospholipase D and PKC was reversed by 100 mu mol/L mevalonate, its isoprenoid derivative, farnesol, and geranylgeraniol but not by 10 mu mol/L squalene. Antisense oligodeoxynucleotides at 5 mu mol/L to PKC-alpha, but not those to the PKC-beta isoform, suppressed the lyso-PC-mediated increases in SMC migration and oxidative stress. These findings suggest that HMG-CoA reductase inhibitors have direct antimigratory effects on the vascular wall beyond their effects on plasma lipids and that they might exert such antimigratory effects via suppression of the phospholipase D- and PKC (possibly PKC-alpha)-induced increase in oxidative stress, which might in turn prevent significant coronary artery disease.
