Colchicine as a Novel Therapy for Suppressing Chemokine Production in Patients With an Acute Coronary Syndrome: A Pilot Study

Abstract Purpose Existing literature reports that colchicine inhibits inflammasome activation and downstream inflammatory cytokine production and stabilizes coronary plaque. However, colchicine's effect on chemokines, which orchestrate multiple atheroinflammatory pathways, is unknown. Methods Patients with acute coronary syndrome (ACS) were randomly assigned to colchicine (1.5 mg PO) (n = 12; mean age, 65.2 years) or no treatment (n = 13; mean age, 62.2 years). Blood samples were collected during cardiac catheterization within 24 hours of colchicine administration from the coronary sinus, aortic root, and right atrium. Patients with colchicine-naive stable angina (SAP) (n = 13; mean age, 66.8 years) were additionally sampled. Serum chemokine levels were analyzed with ELISA. In parallel, monocytes from healthy donors were isolated and subjected to colchicine treatment. Findings Transcoronary (TC) levels of chemokine ligand 2 (CCL2) and C-X3-C motif chemokine ligand 1 (CX3CL1) were significantly elevated in patients with ACS versus patients with SAP (P  Implications Here, we report for the first time that short-term colchicine therapy significantly reduces the local production of coronary chemokines, in part by attenuating production of these mediators by monocytes. These data provide further evidence of colchicine's beneficial role in patients with ACS.