Aim The accumulating evidence suggests that C-reactive protein (CRP) may have direct inflammatory effects on the vascular wall and that statin therapy may have important non-lipid anti-inflammatory effects confirmed by decreasing serum inflammatory markers,such as CRP. However,the effect of pravastatin on tumor necrosis factorα (TNFα) and interleukin-6 (IL-6) release in cultured human monocytes from patients with acute coronary syndrome(ACS) was not investigated. Methods A prospective,human monocyte culture, pravastatin intervention study. Monocytes were isolated from blood of patients with acute coronary syndrome (ACS) and healthy volunteers by the Ficoll density gradient and stimulated by CRP (20 mg/L) or lipopolysaccharide (LPS,10 μg/L) for 24 h. Also 1 μmol/L,5 μmol/L,and 10 μmol/L pravastatin was coincubated with cells in the presence of CRP. Measurements of TNFα and IL-6 were performed from supernatants of cultured medium in duplicate,using a commercial assay kit. Results (1)CRP and LPS induced the release of TNFα and IL-6,with significantly elevated levels in cultured supernatants in ACS group and healthy group compared with their control group respectively.(2)A greater increase of TNFα and IL-6 induced by CRP and LPS were observed in the ACS group compared with the healthy group. Pravastatin inhibited significantly the production of TNFα and IL-6 in monocytes stimulated by CRP in a dose-dependent manner, a greater decrease was observed in ACS group compared with the control group(p<0.001). Conclusions CRP and LPS could induce more TNFα and IL-6 release in human monocyte from patients with ACS than from healthy volunteer. Pravastatin could inhibit this response in a dose-dependent manner in ACS group better than in healthy volunteer,which may provide an insight into the mechanisms of anti-inflammatory actions of pravastatin.