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Effect of short-term col-chicine treatment on endothelial function in patients with coronary artery

Int J Cardiol. 2019 Jan 15. pii: S0167-5273(18)34723-5. doi: 10.1016/j.ijcard.2019.01.054. [Epub ahead of print] Effect of short-term col-chicine treatment on endothelial function in patients with coronary artery disease. Kajikawa M1, Higashi Y2, Tomiyama H3, Maruhashi T4, Kurisu S4, Kihara Y4, Mutoh A5, Ueda SI6. Author information 6Department of Clinical Pharmacology and Therapeutics, Graduate School of Medicine, University of the Ryukyus, Okinawa, Japan. Electronic address: blessyou@med.u-ryukyu.ac.jp. Abstract BACKGROUND: Inflammation is associated with endothelial dysfunction and plays an important role in the pathogenesis and development of cardiovascular diseases. It has been shown that col-chicine, an anti-inflammatory drug, improves the cardiovascular outcome in patients with cardiovascular disease. The purpose of this study was to evaluate the short-term effect of low-dose col-chicine on endothelial function in patients with coronary artery disease (CAD). METHODS: This was a double-blind, randomized, placebo-controlled, crossover-within-subject clinical trial. A total of 28 patients with CAD received low-dose col-chicine (0.5 mg/day) or a placebo for 7 days with a washout period of at least 14 days. Flow-mediated vasodilation (FMD) and serum concentrations of high-sensitivity C-reactive protein (hs-CRP) were measured after the 7-day treatment with col-chicine or the placebo. RESULTS: The serum concentration of hs-CRP was significantly decreased after administration of col-chicine compared with that after administration of the placebo [median (interquartile range): 0.04 (0.02-0.08) mg/dL vs. 0.07 (0.04-0.11) mg/dL, P = 0.003], while there was no significant difference in FMD between the treatments [median (interquartile range): 3.1% (1.5-5.3%) vs. 3.3% (1.9-5.2%), P = 0.384]. Col-chicine, however, significantly improved FMD in coronary artery disease patients with white blood cell (WBC) counts of ≥7500 WBC/mm3[median (interquartile range): 3.3% (2.1-6.6%) vs. 2.0% (1.4-3.8%), P = 0.043]. CONCLUSIONS: Administration of low-dose col-chicine did not improve endothelial function in patients with CAD, but exploratory analysis suggested that endothelial function is significantly improved in patients with leukocyte activation. Copyright © 2019 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved. KEYWORDS: Atherosclerosis; Cardiovascular disease; Colchicine; Endothelial function

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