Pravastatin Sodium

Pravastatin sodium is an antilipemic fungal metabolite isolated from cultures of nocardia autotrophica. It acts as a competitive inhibitor of hmg coa reductase. Pravastatin is the sodium salt of pravastatin with cholesterol-lowering & potential antineoplastic activities. pravastatin competitively inhibits hepatic hydroxymethyl-glutaryl coenzyme a (hmg-coa) reductase, the enzyme which catalyzes the conversion of hmg-coa to mevalonate, a key step in cholesterol synthesis. This agent lowers plasmacholesterol and lipoprotein levels, and modulates immune responses by suppressing mhc ii (major histocompatibility complex ii) on interferon gamma-stimulated, antigen-presenting cells such as human vascular endothelial cells. In addition, pravastatin, like other statins, exhibits pro-apoptotic, growth inhibitory, & pro-differentiation activities in a variety of tumor cells; these antineoplastic activities may be due, in part, to inhibition of the isoprenylation of ras and rho gtpases and related signaling cascades.