Crestor
Meaning of Crestor: Most cholesterol in the blood is manufactured by the liver rather than eaten, which is why a drug aimed at the liver works.
Definition of Crestor
Crestor is a brand name for rosuvastatin, a medication in the statin class used to lower cholesterol. It blocks an enzyme the liver uses to make cholesterol, which reduces production and prompts the liver to pull more LDL cholesterol out of the blood. Lowering LDL over the long term reduces the risk of heart attack and stroke.
How does a statin lower cholesterol?
Most of the cholesterol circulating in blood is manufactured by the liver rather than absorbed from food. The liver builds it through a chain of chemical steps, and one enzyme early in that chain, HMG-CoA reductase, sets the pace for the whole sequence. Rosuvastatin blocks that enzyme, so production falls. The liver then responds to having less cholesterol on hand by placing more receptors on its surface, and those receptors capture LDL particles out of the passing blood. The second effect does much of the work: the blood level drops both because less is being made and because more is being removed. Statins lower LDL substantially, lower triglycerides moderately, and raise HDL slightly.
Why is LDL the target?
| Blood fat | What it does | Effect of a statin |
|---|---|---|
| LDL cholesterol | Carries cholesterol out to tissues and deposits it into artery walls | Lowers it markedly |
| HDL cholesterol | Carries cholesterol back toward the liver | Raises it slightly |
| Triglycerides | A separate blood fat, raised by diet, alcohol and several conditions | Lowers it moderately |
LDL particles that lodge in an artery wall are the raw material of atherosclerotic plaque, so lowering LDL slows that process and stabilizes plaque already formed. This is why statins are described in terms of cardiovascular risk reduction rather than as treatment for a number on a laboratory report, and why they are taken continuously rather than as a short course.
What is known about its other effects?
Muscle aching is the effect most often reported, while severe muscle injury is rare. Liver enzyme levels can rise, usually without any symptom. Statins are also associated with a small increase in the chance of developing diabetes, an effect weighed against the cardiovascular benefit rather than considered alone. Beyond the cholesterol pathway, statins lower markers of inflammation in the blood, and that observation has driven a great deal of research into whether the class does anything beyond lipid lowering, including work in cancer. Those investigations remain separate from the established use, and rosuvastatin is prescribed on the strength of the cholesterol and cardiovascular evidence.
Also known as
Used in a sentence
Crestor was prescribed to help lower the patient's elevated LDL cholesterol level.
Good to know
Crestor lowers cholesterol primarily by reducing the liver's own production of it, a mechanism shared by other statins even though individual drugs in the class differ in potency and in how the body processes them.