Short-Term Atorvastatin Therapy in Healthy Individuals Results in Unaltered Plasma MMP Levels and Disrupted MMP-7 Correlation with Blood Lipids and Blood Count-Derived Inflammatory Markers

<b>Background</b>: Matrix metalloproteinases (MMPs) play an important role in the pathophysiology of atherosclerosis. Reportedly, statins can decrease MMP activity in patients with atherosclerotic cardiovascular disease, but this effect has not been studied in healthy individuals. <b>Methods</b>: MMPs 2, 7, and 9 and several other parameters were measured before and after a four-week course of moderate-dose atorvastatin (20 mg/day) in 21 healthy individuals. <b>Results</b>: Atorvastatin treatment resulted in lower total cholesterol, LDL-cholesterol, non-HDL-cholesterol, and triglycerides (<i>p</i> < 0.001 for all), but higher levels of plasma enzymes AST, ALT, CK, and LDH (<i>p</i> < 0.05 for all). No effect of atorvastatin on plasma MMP median concentrations was recorded. Before treatment, moderate positive significant correlations were found between MMP-7 and age, blood lipids, and blood count-derived inflammatory markers. Pre-treatment MMP-7 was best predicted by the total cholesterol-to-HDL cholesterol ratio in a remnant cholesterol-weighted least squares regression model. After atorvastatin treatment, MMP-7 no longer correlated with these markers. <b>Conclusions</b>: While the effect of statins on plasma MMPs in atherosclerosis is controversial, short-term moderate-dose atorvastatin treatment does not seem to affect levels of MMPs 2, 7, and 9 in healthy individuals. However, an intriguing correlation between MMP-7 and atherosclerosis-related blood lipids and neutrophil-associated inflammatory biomarkers seems to be disrupted by atorvastatin independently of hsCRP, possibly via pleiotropic effects.