Optimizing diet quality in conjunction with
statin therapy is currently the most common approach for
coronary artery disease (CAD) risk management. Although effects on the cardiovascular system have been extensively investigated, little is known about the effect of these interventions in the colon and subsequent associations with CAD progression. To address this gap, Ossabaw pigs were randomly allocated to receive, for a six-month period, isocaloric amounts of either a heart healthy-type diet (HHD; high in unrefined
carbohydrate,
unsaturated fat, fiber, supplemented with
fish oil, and low in
cholesterol) or a Western-type diet (WD; high in refined
carbohydrate, saturated fat and
cholesterol, and low in fiber), without or with
atorvastatin therapy. At the end of the intervention period, colon samples were harvested, mucosa fraction isolated, and
RNA sequenced. Gene differential expression and enrichment analyses indicated that dietary patterns and
atorvastatin therapy differentially altered gene expression, with diet-
statin interactions.
Atorvastatin had a more profound effect on differential gene expression than diet. In pigs not receiving
atorvastatin, the WD upregulated "LXR/RXR Activation" pathway compared to pigs fed the HHD. Enrichment analysis indicated that
atorvastatin therapy lowered inflammatory status in the HHD-fed pigs, whereas it induced a
colitis-like gene expression phenotype in the WD-fed pigs. No significant association was identified between gene expression phenotypes and severity of atherosclerotic lesions in the left anterior descending-left circumflex bifurcation artery. These data suggested diet quality modulated the response to
atorvastatin therapy in colonic mucosa, and these effects were unrelated to atherosclerotic lesion development.