title: Colchicine and the heart: pushing the envelope.
abstract: Colchicine, a natural and ancient drug still used today, is traditionally considered the staple therapy for gout and a second-line treatment for pericarditis, as well as a basic part of familial Mediterranean fever and Behcet's disease management. It is commonly classified as an anti-inflammatory agent, although its mechanism of action does not involve the arachidonic acid pathway affected by non-steroid anti-inflammatory drugs and glucocorticoids. Colchicine inhibits microtubule polymerization by binding to tubulin, thus affecting any process that requires cytoskeletal changes, including cell mitosis and neutrophil motility. Recent studies suggest that colchicine may prove to be useful in a much wider spectrum of cardiovascular diseases than previously suspected, rekindling the interest in this old drug. In this review we briefly present the biochemical characteristics, mechanism of action and side-effects of colchicine, as well as examine what is currently known about the promising role of colchicine in cardiovascular medicine beyond pericardial disease.
authors.affiliation: Department of Cardiology, Athens General Hospital "G. Gennimatas", Athens, Greece; Section of Cardiovascular Medicine, Yale University School of Medicine, Yale University, New Haven, Connecticut.
authors.forename: Spyridon
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Deftereos
authors.forename: Georgios
authors.initials: G
authors.lastname: Giannopoulos
authors.forename: Nikolaos
authors.initials: N
authors.lastname: Papoutsidakis
authors.forename: Vasiliki
authors.initials: V
authors.lastname: Panagopoulou
authors.forename: Charalampos
authors.initials: C
authors.lastname: Kossyvakis
authors.forename: Konstantinos
authors.initials: K
authors.lastname: Raisakis
authors.forename: Michael W
authors.initials: MW
authors.lastname: Cleman
authors.forename: Christodoulos
authors.initials: C
authors.lastname: Stefanadis
mesh_terms: D017130:Angioplasty; D000818:Animals; D001281:Atrial Fibrillation / Q000188:drug therapy; D003078:Colchicine / Q000494:pharmacology / Q000627:therapeutic use*; D003324:Coronary Artery Disease / Q000188:drug therapy; D006331:Heart Diseases / Q000188:drug therapy*; D006801:Humans; D010493:Pericarditis / Q000188:drug therapy; D050257:Tubulin Modulators / Q000494:pharmacology / Q000627:therapeutic use*
chemical_list: D050257:Tubulin Modulators; D003078:Colchicine
keywords: ACS; AF; C-reactive protein; CAD; CRP; IL; NSAID; PCI; POAF; acute coronary syndrome(s); atrial fibrillation; cardiac disease; colchicine; coronary artery disease; interleukin; nonsteroidal anti-inflammatory drug; percutaneous coronary intervention; pharmacology; post-operative atrial fibrillation