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Statins neuroprotective in MPTP mouse model of Parkinson's disease: Response to comments by Dr. Wolozin

Kali Pahan, PhD, Professor, Rush University Medical Center
Pharmacological Approaches, Targeting Neuroimmune Dysfunction
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Statins neuroprotective in MPTP mouse model of Parkinson's disease
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I read comments by Dr. Wolozin with great interest. It is really unfortunate that Dr. Wolozin has forgotten to mention the original article on neuroprotective action of statin that was published in 1997 by us in the Journal of Clinical Investigation (Pahan et al., 1997). In that article, we have shown that lovastatin inhibits the activation of NF-κB and the expression of iNOS and proinflammatory cytokines in microglia and astrocytes via modulating farnesyl pathway. In fact, this landmark research article has revolutionized the statin field and gave the first hint that statins may be used in neuroinflammatory and neurodegenerative diseases.

Dr. Wolozin has also mentioned "The work builds on existing studies related to Parkinson's disease and other neurodegenerative diseases". With due respect, I also must mention that the grant (NS48923) entitled "Statin and phenylacetate in MPTP mouse model" was submitted to the NIH on 1st October 2003. This is much before Dr. Wolozin published his articles on statin and PD.

Anyway Dr. Wolozin is a great scientist and I always enjoy reading his nice review articles.

Reference: 
Pahan K, Sheikh FG, Namboodiri AM, Singh I. Lovastatin and phenylacetate inhibit the induction of nitric oxide synthase and cytokines in rat primary astrocytes, microglia, and macrophages. J Clin Invest. 1997;100(11):2671-9.
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