Colchicine reduces procollagen III and increases pseudocholinesterase in chronic
liver disease.
Author(s): Muntoni S, Rojkind M, Muntoni S.
Affiliation(s): Centre for Metabolic Diseases and Atherosclerosis, The Metabolic Diseases and
their Complications Association, Viale Trento 27/A, 09123 Cagliari, Italy.
sergiomuntoni@hotmail.com
Publication date & source: 2010, World J Gastroenterol. , 16(23):2889-94
AIM: To test whether colchicine would be an effective antifibrotic agent for
treatment of chronic liver diseases in patients who could not be treated with
alpha-interferon.
METHODS: Seventy-four patients (46 males, 28 females) aged 40-66 years (mean 53
+/- 13 years) participated in the study. The patients were affected by chronic
liver diseases with cirrhosis which was proven histologically (n = 58); by
chronic active hepatitis C (n = 4), chronic active hepatitis B (n = 2), and
chronic persistent hepatitis C (n = 6). In the four patients lacking histology,
cirrhosis was diagnosed from anamnesis, serum laboratory tests, esophageal
varices and ascites. Patients were assigned to colchicine (1 mg/d) or standard
treatment as control in a randomized, double-blind trial, and followed for 4.4
years with clinical and laboratory evaluation.
RESULTS: Survival at the end of the study was 94.6% in the colchicine group and
78.4% in the control group (P = 0.001). Serum N-terminal peptide of type III
procollagen levels fell from 34.0 to 18.3 ng/mL (P = 0.0001), and
pseudocholinesterase levels rose from 4.900 to 5.610 mU/mL (P = 0.0001) in the
colchicine group, while no significant change was seen in controls. Best results
were obtained in patients with chronic hepatitis C and in alcoholic cirrhotics.
CONCLUSION: Colchicine is an effective and safe antifibrotic drug for long-term
treatment of chronic liver disease in which fibrosis progresses towards
cirrhosis.
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