Colchicine, an anti-inflammatory drug prescribed for gout, appears to prevent some cases of liver cancer for patients with hepatitis virus-related liver cirrhosis, according to Instituto Nacional de Cancerologia researchers in Tlalpan, Mexico. Hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC) risks are higher for those who suffer from viral hepatitis. The study was a small one, involving 186 patients with hepatitis virus-related liver cirrhosis. 116 patients received colchicine. Of those, nine percent developed HCC. In the second group, 70 patients were not treated with the drug, and 29 percent developed HCC. Researchers explained that colchicine has the ability to block cancer cell proliferation.
The results of the study are published in the October 15th issue of Cancer.
Medline Plus offers this information about colchicine. Colchicine is used to prevent or treat attacks of gout. Colchicine prevents or relieves gout attacks by reducing inflammation, however, it is not an ordinary pain reliever and will not relieve most kinds of pain. Wikipedia describes colchicine as a highly poisonous alkaloid, originally extracted from plants known as Meadow saffron.
