Colchicine May Prevent Hepatocellular Carcinoma in Patients With Hepatitis
NEW YORK (Reuters Health) Sept 11 - The anti-inflammatory agent colchicine
may prevent or delay the development of hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC) in
patients with hepatitis virus-induced liver cirrhosis, physicians in Mexico
report.
Colchicine is used primarily to treat gout and immunologic diseases such as
scleroderma. Multiple studies have ruled out the use of colchicine for
progression of liver disease, Dr. Oscar Arrieta, an oncologist at Instituto
Nacional de Cancerologia in Tlalpan, and his associates note in the October
15th issue of Cancer. However, they have found no published data regarding
the drug's effect on the development of HCC.
According to their report, the research team evaluated the use of colchicine
in 186 patients with hepatitis virus-related cirrhosis who were treated
between 1980 and 2000. Colchicine was used to treat 62% of patients, at a
dose of 1 mg 5 days/week, initiated when cirrhosis was diagnosed.
After 3 years' follow-up, cirrhosis had progressed among 56% of those taking
colchicine and 60% of the other patients, further proof that colchicine has
no direct effect on the progression of cirrhosis.
However, colchicine did appear to prolong time to HCC in these patients.
In the colchicine group, 9% developed HCC, versus 29% in the non-colchicine
group (p = 0.0001), the researchers report. Average time to develop HCC was
222 months among those treated with colchicine, versus 150 months in the
other group (p = 0.0001).
"Colchicine can prevent the development of HCC, independent of other factors
such as age, platelet count, alpha-fetoprotein level, and transaminase
levels," Dr. Arrieta and his associates conclude. However, larger
prospective studies with longer follow-up will be required to confirm this
observation, they add.
Cancer 2006.
http://www.medscape.com/viewarticle/544433
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发表于 2006-9-20 17:37
