Long-term effect of lovastatin on lipoprotein profile in patients with primary nephrotic syndrome.

Eight patients with biopsy-proven primary nephrotic syndrome were included in an open, prospective, two-year study of lovastatin. One patient was withdrawn after 6 months due to an asymptomatic rise in creatinine phosphokinase, which was rapidly reversed after interruption of lovastatin. In the remaining patients, treatment was well-tolerated and produced no side effects. After 2 years of treatment, these 7 patients had decreases in total cholesterol from 446±165 to 250±57 mg/dl (p<0.001), LDL cholesterol from 343±121 to 174±49 mg/dl (p<0.001), Apo B lipoprotein from 162±60 to 108±42 mg/dl (p<0.05), and triglycerides from 336±273 to 182±71 mg/dl (p<0.04). There was no change in HDL cholesterol