TY - JOUR TI - Simvastatin lowers reactive oxygen species level by Nrf2 activation via PI3K/Akt pathway AU - Chartoumpekis, Dionysios AU - Ziros, Panos G. AU - Psyrogiannis, AU - Agathoklis AU - Kyriazopoulou, Venetsana AU - Papavassiliou, Athanasios G. AU - and Habeos, Ioannis G. JO - Biochemical and Biophysical Research Communications PY - 2010 VL - 396 TODO - 2 SP - 463-466 PB - ACADEMIC PRESS INC ELSEVIER SCIENCE SN - 0006-291X, 1090-2104 TODO - 10.1016/j.bbrc.2010.04.117 TODO - Nrf2; Simvastatin; Reactive oxygen species; HMG-CoA reductase inhibitors; PI3K/Akt TODO - The beneficial effects of HMG-CoA (3-hydroxy-3-methyl-glutaryl-CoA) reductase inhibitors (statins) have been attributed not only to their cholesterol lowering effect but also to their pleiotropic actions and especially to their anti-oxidant activity. Nrf2 (NF-E2-related factor 2) is a transcription factor that orchestrates the transcriptional response of cells to oxidative stressors and electrophilic xenobiotics. In this study, primary mouse embryonic fibroblasts from wild type or Nrf2 knock out C57B16J mice and ST-2 cells were used to investigate the implication of Nrf2 in the mediation of the anti-oxidant effects of statins and the possible involvement of PI3K/Akt pathway in this process. We show for the first time that simvastatin lowers reactive oxygen species (ROS) by activating Nrf2 through the PI3K/Akt pathway. (C) 2010 Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved. ER -