Statin and Osteoarthritis

Statins are a class of drugs prescribed to > 40 million US people (13% population) for the control of cholesterol levels and cardiovascular diseases. In collaboration with Christiana Care Health System, we performed a big data analysis of Delaware population and found that statin use is associated with lower osteoarthritis occurrence. Bench studies in our lab revealed that statin can directly regulate the mechanobiology of cartilage cells and prevent cartilage degeneration under adverse factors. The current focus of this project includes 1) a large cohort study of US population about statin use and osteoarthritis occurrence, 2) molecular mechanism study using human cartilage, and 3) use of statin for the treatment of inflammatory joints.

Osteoarthritis survival rate of statin users is significantly higher than the non-users.