{rfName}
St

Indexed in

License and use

Altmetrics

Analysis of institutional authors

Marchant Hernandez, Vanessa AlejandraAuthorRayego-Mateos SAuthorOrtiz AAuthorEgido JAuthorRuiz-Ortega MAuthor

Share

July 1, 2020
Publications
>
Review
Green

Statins: Could an old friend help the fight against COVID-19?

Publicated to:BRITISH JOURNAL OF PHARMACOLOGY. 177 (21): 4873-4886 - 2020-11-01 177(21), DOI: 10.1111/bph.15166

Authors: Rodrigues-Diez, Raul R; Tejera-Munoz, Antonio; Marquez-Exposito, Laura; Rayego-Mateos, Sandra; Santos Sanchez, Laura; Marchant, Vanessa; Tejedor Santamaria, Lucia; Ramos, Adrian M; Ortiz, Alberto; Egido, Jesus; Ruiz-Ortega, Marta

Affiliations

Centro de Investigacion Biomedica en Red de Diabetes y Enfermedades Metabolicas Asociadas - Author
Inst Salud Carlos III, Red Invest Renal REDINREN, Madrid, Spain - Author
Instituto de Investigacion Sanitaria La Fe - Author
Instituto de Salud Carlos III - Author
Spanish Biomed Res Ctr Diabet & Associated Metab, Madrid, Spain - Author
Univ Autonoma Madrid, Fdn Jimenez Diaz, Fdn Inst Invest Sanitaria, Cellular & Mol Biol Renal & Vasc Pathol Lab, Avda Reyes Catolicos 2, Madrid 28040, Spain - Author
Univ Autonoma Madrid, Fdn Jimenez Diaz, Fdn Inst Invest Sanitaria, Lab Nephrol & Hypertens, Madrid, Spain - Author
Univ Autonoma, Fdn Jimenez Diaz, Fdn Inst Invest Sanitaria, Renal Vasc & Diabet Res Lab, Madrid, Spain - Author
Univ Cordoba, Maimonides Biomed Res Inst Cordoba IMIBIC, GE 06 Pathophysiol Renal & Vasc Damage Lab, Cordoba, Spain - Author
Universidad de Córdoba - Author
See more

Abstract

This article is protected by copyright. All rights reserved. COVID-19 pandemic caused by the severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2) has overwhelmed Healthcare Systems requiring the rapid development of treatments, at least, to reduce COVID-19 severity. Drug repurposing offers a fast track. Here, we discuss the potential beneficial effects of statins in COVID-19 patients based on evidence that they may target virus receptors, replication, degradation and downstream responses in infected cells, addressing both basic research and epidemiological information. Briefly, statins could act modulating virus entry, acting on the SARS-CoV-2 receptors, ACE2 and CD147, and/or lipid rafts engagement. Statins, by inducing autophagy activation, could regulate virus replication or degradation, exerting protective effects. The well-known anti-inflammatory properties of statins, by blocking several molecular mechanisms, including NF-κB and NLRP3 inflammasome, could limit the cytokine storm in severe COVID-19 patients which is linked to fatal outcome. Finally, statin moderation of coagulation response activation may also contribute to improve COVID-19 outcomes.

Keywords

Ace2AnimalsAutophagyBetacoronavirusCd147CoagulationCoronavirus infectionsCovid-19Covid-19 drug treatmentCytokinesDrug repositioningHumansHydroxymethylglutaryl-coa reductase inhibitorsInflammasomeInflammationLipid raftsPandemicsPneumonia, viralSars-cov-2Sars-cov-2 receptorsStatinsVirus internalization

Quality index

Bibliometric impact. Analysis of the contribution and dissemination channel

The work has been published in the journal BRITISH JOURNAL OF PHARMACOLOGY due to its progression and the good impact it has achieved in recent years, according to the agency WoS (JCR), it has become a reference in its field. In the year of publication of the work, 2020, it was in position 12/276, thus managing to position itself as a Q1 (Primer Cuartil), in the category Pharmacology & Pharmacy. Notably, the journal is positioned above the 90th percentile.

From a relative perspective, and based on the normalized impact indicator calculated from World Citations provided by WoS (ESI, Clarivate), it yields a value for the citation normalization relative to the expected citation rate of: 7.13. This indicates that, compared to works in the same discipline and in the same year of publication, it ranks as a work cited above average. (source consulted: ESI Nov 14, 2024)

This information is reinforced by other indicators of the same type, which, although dynamic over time and dependent on the set of average global citations at the time of their calculation, consistently position the work at some point among the top 50% most cited in its field:

  • Weighted Average of Normalized Impact by the Scopus agency: 6.6 (source consulted: FECYT Feb 2024)
  • Field Citation Ratio (FCR) from Dimensions: 18.28 (source consulted: Dimensions Jul 2025)

Specifically, and according to different indexing agencies, this work has accumulated citations as of 2025-07-25, the following number of citations:

  • WoS: 95
  • Scopus: 99
  • Europe PMC: 76

Impact and social visibility

From the perspective of influence or social adoption, and based on metrics associated with mentions and interactions provided by agencies specializing in calculating the so-called "Alternative or Social Metrics," we can highlight as of 2025-07-25:

  • The use, from an academic perspective evidenced by the Altmetric agency indicator referring to aggregations made by the personal bibliographic manager Mendeley, gives us a total of: 165.
  • The use of this contribution in bookmarks, code forks, additions to favorite lists for recurrent reading, as well as general views, indicates that someone is using the publication as a basis for their current work. This may be a notable indicator of future more formal and academic citations. This claim is supported by the result of the "Capture" indicator, which yields a total of: 175 (PlumX).

With a more dissemination-oriented intent and targeting more general audiences, we can observe other more global scores such as:

  • The Total Score from Altmetric: 29.6.
  • The number of mentions on the social network Facebook: 1 (Altmetric).
  • The number of mentions on the social network X (formerly Twitter): 43 (Altmetric).
  • The number of mentions in news outlets: 1 (Altmetric).

It is essential to present evidence supporting full alignment with institutional principles and guidelines on Open Science and the Conservation and Dissemination of Intellectual Heritage. A clear example of this is:

  • The work has been submitted to a journal whose editorial policy allows open Open Access publication.
  • Assignment of a Handle/URN as an identifier within the deposit in the Institutional Repository: https://repositorio.uam.es/handle/10486/691795

Leadership analysis of institutional authors

There is a significant leadership presence as some of the institution’s authors appear as the first or last signer, detailed as follows: Last Author (RUIZ ORTEGA, MARTA).