Colchicine reduces procollagen III and increases pseudocholinesterase in chronic liver disease

Table 1 Diseases and number of patients participating in the study

Disease	Group A	Group B	P
Post-hepatitis C cirrhosis	15	13	0.65
Post-hepatitis B cirrhosis	9	11	0.65
Chronic active hepatitis C	2	2	0.70
Chronic active hepatitis B	1	1	0.85
Chronic persistent hepatitis C	3	3	0.85
Alcoholic cirrhosis	5	5	0.90
Primary biliary cirrhosis	2	2	0.80
Total	37	37

Differences between the two groups were not significant statistically.

Table 2 Number of cases and number of improved patients for P-III-P and pseudocholinesterase in the different liver disease groups treated for 4.4 years with colchicine

	Number of cases	Number of improved	P vs controls
Post-hepatitis C cirrhosis	15	13	0.001
Post-hepatitis B cirrhosis	9	11	0.05
Chronic active hepatitis C	2	2	0.001
Chronic active hepatitis B	1	1	0.50
Chronic persistent hepatitis C	3	3	0.001
Alcoholic cirrhosis	5	5	0.001
Primary biliary cirrhosis	2	2	0.55

P-III-P: Type III procollagen peptide.

Table 3 Liver function tests at baseline and after 2 and 4 years

	Group A	%	P	Group B	%	P
P-III-P baseline (ng/mL)	34.0			32.0
P-III-P 2 yr (ng/mL)	26.2	-22.9	0.01	30.8	-3.7	0.6
P-III-P 4 yr (ng/mL)	18.3	-46.2	< 0.0001	30.2	-5.6	0.5
Pseudocholinesterase baseline (mU/mL)	4900			4800
Pseudocholinesterase 2 yr (mU/mL)	5200	+6.1	0.05	4620	-3.7	0.6
Pseudocholinesterase 4 yr (mU/mL)	5610	+14.5	< 0.001	4580	-4.6	0.6

Table 4 Survival of 37 patients treated with colchicines (Group A) and of 37 control patients (Group B) n (%)

	Group A	Group B	P
Baseline	37	37
2 yr	36 (97.3)	35 (94.6)	0.05
4 yr	34 (91.9)	30 (81.1)	0.001

Table 5 Complications of cirrhosis in the two groups

Complications	Group A	Group B	P
Ascites	0	8	< 0.001
Encephalopathy	0	2	< 0.001
Esophageal hemorrhage	2	10	< 0.001

Group A: Colchicine, 20; Group B: Control, 18. Statistical significance of differences between the two groups: P < 0.001.