Antiinflammatory and antifibrotic properties of colchicine: Implications for idiopathic pulmonary fibrosis

The ancient drug colchicine has repeatedly been proposed as a novel drug for therapy of pulmonary fibrosis. The present study was undertaken to add to the knowledge on colchicine's antiinflammatory and antifibrotic properties and thus help determine its actual rank in the treatment of pulmonary fibrosis. In vitro cell culture experiments with stimulated and unstimulated normal donor peripheral blood mononuclear cells (PMNC) and a human lung fibroblast cell line (WI-38) were used to determine the effects of colchicine on PMNC cytokine release (inter leukin-6 and tumor necrosis factor-alpha) as well as on fibroblast proliferation and collagen synthesis rates. Reverse transcriptase polymerase chain amplifications of alpha 1(III) collagen were done to detect collagen messenger ribonucleic acid (mRNA) expression. Colchicine did not significantly modulate tumor necrosis factor-alpha (TNF-alpha) and interleukin-6 (IL-6) release of PMNC. Colchicine inhibited fibroblast proliferation and total collagen synthesis significantly at concentrations obtainable in serum in vivo. Transcription of the alpha 1(III) collagen gene into mRNA continued under colchicine. We conclude that colchicine is a potent in vitro inhibitor of fibroblast functions in terms of proliferation and collagen synthesis. The mechanism of collagen inhibition is more likely an inhibition of cellular collagen secretion than a switch off of collagen mRNA transcription. On the other hand, although colchicine is known to inhibit many leukocyte functions, it is a poor inhibitor of cytokines known to be important for fibrogenesis (e.g. IL-6, TNF-alpha, IL-1, platelet-derived growth factor, and transforming growth factor-beta). This makes colchicine, at least from a theoretical standpoint and as concluded from in vitro studies, a preferable candidate for a combined therapeutic strategy.