The statin class of drugs that are currently used to control hypercholesterolemia function to lower circulating levels of cholesterol by which of the following mechanisms?
A. increasing the elimination of bile acids, leading to increased diversion of cholesterol into bile acid production
B. increasing the synthesis of apolipoprotein B-100 (apo ), resulting in increased elimination of cholesterol through the action of low-density lipoprotein (LDL) uptake by the liver
C. decreasing the absorption of dietary cholesterol from the intestines
D. inhibiting the interaction of LDLs with the hepatic LDL receptor
E. inhibiting the rate-limiting step in cholesterol biosynthesis
E: they inhibits the HMG-CoA synthetase, thus less coholesterol produced by the liver and augmented ldl-receptor expression