Statins inhibit growth of human endometrial stromal cells independently of cholesterol availability

Piotr C Piotrowski, Piotr Piotrowski, Kwintkiewicz J, Jakub Kwintkiewicz, Rzepczynska IJ, Izabela J. Rzepczynska, Yasemin Seval, Seval Y, Hakan Çakmak, Cakmak H, Hakan Cakmak, Aydın Arıcı, Aydin Arici, Arici A, Antoni J Duleba, Duleba AJ, Antoni J. Dulęba
Biology of reproduction · 2006 · vol. 75(1) , pp. 107–111 · doi:10.1095/biolreprod.106.051763 · PMID:16571871 · W2147203397
Lab / animal OA: bronze CC0 ⤵ 35 in-corpus citations
📄 Open PDF View on OpenAlex View on PubMed View at publisher
⚙ AI-generated summary by gemini-2.5-flash-lite, 2026-06-09 ⓘ

Statins inhibited human endometrial stromal cell proliferation and MAPK3/1 phosphorylation, independently of cholesterol levels, with mevalonate but not squalene reversing the inhibitory effects.

One-sentence paraphrase of the abstract; not a substitute for reading it. No clinical advice. How this works

Abstract

Endometriosis is characterized by ectopic growth of endometrial tissues. Statins, inhibitors of 3-hydroxy-3methylglutaryl-coenzyme A reductase (HMGCR), have been shown to decrease proliferation of several mesenchymal tissues. Actions of statins may be related to decreased availability of cholesterol as well as intermediate metabolites of the mevalonate pathway downstream of HMGCR. This study was designed to evaluate effects of statins on growth of endometrial stromal cells and to investigate mechanisms of these effects. Human endometrial stromal cells were cultured in the absence and in the presence of serum and with or without mevastatin and simvastatin. DNA synthesis and viable cell numbers were determined. Effects of statins were also evaluated in the presence of mevalonate and squalene. Furthermore, effects on phosphorylation of mitogen-activated protein kinase 3/1 (MAPK3/1) (also known as extracellular signal-regulated kinase [ERK1/2]) were determined. Mevastatin and simvastatin induced a concentration-dependent inhibition of DNA synthesis and viable cell count in chemically defined media and in the presence of serum. Mevalonate, but not squalene, abrogated inhibitory effects of statins on cell proliferation. Statins inhibited MAPK3/1 phosphorylation. This is the first study demonstrating that statins inhibit growth of endometrial stromal cells. This effect is also demonstrable in the presence of a supply of cholesterol and may be related to decreased activation of MAPK3/1. The present observations may be relevant to potential therapeutic use of statins in conditions such as endometriosis.

My notes (saved in your browser only)

Condition tags

endometriosis

MeSH descriptors

Endometrium Hydroxymethylglutaryl-CoA Reductase Inhibitors Cell Proliferation Cell Proliferation Cell Proliferation Endometrium Endometrium Endometrium Endometrium Female Female Humans Humans Hydroxymethylglutaryl-CoA Reductase Inhibitors Hydroxymethylglutaryl-CoA Reductase Inhibitors Hydroxymethylglutaryl-CoA Reductase Inhibitors Mevalonic Acid Mevalonic Acid Mevalonic Acid Mitogen-Activated Protein Kinase 1

Citation neighborhood (2-hop)

Papers in the corpus that this work cites (lower rings, blue) and that cite this one (upper rings, green). Dot size scales with the paper's in-corpus citation count — bigger dot = more influential within the endo/adeno field. Click a dot to open that paper. Outer rings show 2-hop neighbours — papers reached through the immediate citers/citees. [ collapse to 1-hop ]

References (29)

Cited by (36)

Source provenance

europepmc
last seen: 2026-10-27T06:12:01.810347+00:00
openalex
last seen: 2026-06-10T17:14:06.276822+00:00
pubmed
last seen: 2026-10-08T21:03:44.483075+00:00
License: CC0 · commercial use OK