title: Colchicine reduces procollagen III and increases pseudocholinesterase in chronic liver disease.
abstract: OBJECTIVE
  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.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  Colchicine is an effective and safe antifibrotic drug for long-term treatment of chronic liver disease in which fibrosis progresses towards cirrhosis.
authors.affiliation: Centre for Metabolic Diseases and Atherosclerosis, The Metabolic Diseases and their Complications Association, Viale Trento 27/A, 09123 Cagliari, Italy. sergiomuntoni@hotmail.com
authors.forename: Sergio
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Muntoni
authors.forename: Marcos
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Rojkind
authors.forename: Sandro
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Muntoni
mesh_terms: D000328:Adult; D000368:Aged; D002091:Butyrylcholinesterase / Q000378:metabolism*; D003078:Colchicine / Q000627:therapeutic use*; D024061:Collagen Type III / Q000378:metabolism*; D004311:Double-Blind Method; D005260:Female; D019694:Hepatitis B, Chronic / Q000188:drug therapy / Q000378:metabolism; D019698:Hepatitis C, Chronic / Q000188:drug therapy / Q000378:metabolism; D006801:Humans; D008103:Liver Cirrhosis / Q000188:drug therapy / Q000378:metabolism; D008107:Liver Diseases / Q000188:drug therapy* / Q000378:metabolism*; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D011347:Procollagen / Q000378:metabolism*
chemical_list: D024061:Collagen Type III; D011347:Procollagen; D002091:Butyrylcholinesterase; D003078:Colchicine