Fluvastatin mitigates SARS-CoV-2 infection in human lung cells

Clinical data of patients suffering from COVID-19 have indicated that statin therapy, used to treat hypercholesterolemia, is associated with a better clinical outcome. We therefore investigated the effect of statins on SARS-CoV-2 infection in human lung cells and found that fluvastatin inhibited coronavirus infection, while other tested statins did not. Fluvastatin inhibited high and low pathogenic coronaviruses in vitro and ex vivo in a dose-dependent manner. Proteomic analyses of infected versus uninfected lung epithelial cells treated with fluvastatin, simvastatin, or rosuvastatin revealed that all tested statins modulated the cholesterol synthesis pathways without compromising the innate antiviral immune response. Strikingly, fluvastatin treatment uniquely affected the proteome of SARS CoV 2 infected cells, specifically downregulating proteins that modulate protein translation and viral replication. These results suggest that statin therapy poses no additional risk to individuals exposed to SARS-CoV-2 and that fluvastatin may have a moderate beneficial effect on SARS CoV-2 infection by modulating protein translation.