In vivo: |
Gastroenterology. 2003 Apr;124(4):889-93. | Ursodeoxycholic acid as a chemopreventive agent in patients with ulcerative colitis and primary sclerosing cholangitis.[Pubmed: 12671884 ] | Ursodeoxycholic acid (UDCA) has shown effectiveness as a colon cancer chemopreventive agent in preclinical studies. In addition, a recent report suggests that it also may decrease the risk for developing colorectal dysplasia in patients with ulcerative colitis (UC) and primary sclerosing cholangitis (PSC). We sought to evaluate the effect of UDCA on colorectal neoplasia in a group of patients with UC and PSC enrolled in a randomized, placebo-controlled trial.
METHODS AND RESULTS:
From a prior, randomized, placebo-controlled trial of UDCA therapy in PSC at our center, we followed-up patients with concomitant UC to assess the effect of UDCA on the development of colorectal dysplasia and cancer as compared with placebo.
Fifty-two subjects were followed-up for a total of 355 person-years. Those originally assigned to receive UDCA had a relative risk of 0.26 for developing colorectal dysplasia or cancer (95% confidence interval, 0.06-0.92; P = 0.034). Many of the patients originally assigned to the placebo group eventually received open-label UDCA. Assigning these patients to the UDCA group from the time they began active therapy did not change the magnitude of the protective effect (relative risk, 0.26; 95% confidence interval, 0.07-0.99; P = 0.049).
CONCLUSIONS:
UDCA significantly decreases the risk for developing colorectal dysplasia or cancer in patients with UC and PSC. | Dig Dis Sci. 2004 Oct;49(10):1569-74. | Ursodeoxycholic acid ameliorates experimental ileitis counteracting intestinal barrier dysfunction and oxidative stress.[Pubmed: 15573906] | The aim of this study was to evaluate the effect of ursodeoxycholic acid (UDCA) on intestinal permeability (IP) and reactive oxygen species (ROS) generation in indomethacin-induced enteropathy, a well-known experimental model of Crohn's disease. METHODS AND RESULTS: Seventy-eight male Wistar rats were randomly assigned to receive indomethacin, indomethacin + UDCA, or vehicles. Indomethacin induced a significant increase in the fraction of urinary excretion of 51Cr-EDTA following oral administration (7.9 +/- 1.3 vs 2.3 +/- 0.2%; P < 0.05) and lucigenin-amplified chemiluminescence in intestinal fragments ex vivo (10.1 +/- 1.9 vs 2.6 +/- 0.4 cpm x 10(3)/mg; P < 0.05) compared to controls. UDCA significantly reversed these effects (P < 0.05), without being incorporated in biliary bile acid composition (HPLC analysis). CONCLUSIONS: These findings support a local protective effect of UDCA in experimental ileitis by the modulation of intestinal barrier dysfunction and oxidative stress. In short, they provide insights into mechanisms of action of UDCA in intestinal inflammation and a new perspective on the treatment of Crohn's disease. |
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