Simvastatin inhibits Staphylococcus aureus host cell invasion through modulation of isoprenoid intermediates.

ABSTRACT: Patients on a statin regimen have a decreased risk of death due to bacterial sepsis. We have found that protection by simvastatin includes the inhibition of host cell invasion by Staphylococcus aureus, the most common etiologic agent of sepsis. Inhibition was due in part to depletion of isoprenoid intermediates within the cholesterol biosynthesis pathway and led to the cytosolic accumulation of the small GTPases CDC42, Rac, and RhoB. Actin stress fiber disassembly required for host invasion was attenuated by simvastatin and by the inhibition of phosphoinositide 3-kinase (PI3K) activity. PI3K relies on coupling to prenylated proteins, such as this subset of small GTPases, for access to membrane-bound phosphoinositide to mediate stress fiber disassembly. Therefore, we examined whether simvas

SUBMITTER: Horn MP 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC4482125 | biostudies-literature | 2008 Jul

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature