ArticleDigestive diseases and sciences2010
Methotrexate in patients with primary biliary cirrhosis who respond incompletely to treatment with ursodeoxycholic acid.
Article in Digestive diseases and sciences, 2010. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 13 papers.
What it found
Each row is one number read from the abstract, on the scale the paper reported it, with its interval. Left of the dashed line favours the treatment, right favours the comparator. Under each row is the sentence it came from. New to these charts? A ten-minute tutorial.
The abstract states no effect estimate the extractor could read, or names no intervention and outcome on the map, so this paper lights no cell and moves no belief. It is still indexed, cited and linked below.
The trial behind it
Trials whose registry record cites this paper, or whose number appears in the abstract. A trial that started after this paper was published is citing it as background, not reporting it.
Neither the registry nor the abstract names a trial number. If this is a trial report, that itself is worth knowing.
Who cites it
13 citing papers in PubMed, 30 citations in OpenAlex.
- ER stress genes (Frontiers in immunology · 2025Article
- Randomized Trial of Anti-inflammatory Medications and Coronary Endothelial Dysfunction in Patients With Stable Coronary Disease.Frontiers in cardiovascular medicine · 2021Article
- Improving Medication-Related Outcomes in Chronic Liver Disease.Hepatology communications · 2020Review
- Clinical Updates in Primary Biliary Cholangitis: Trends, Epidemiology, Diagnostics, and New Therapeutic Approaches.Journal of clinical and translational hepatology · 2020Review
- Risk of liver disease in methotrexate treated patients.World journal of hepatology · 2017Review
- Update on pharmacotherapies for cholestatic liver disease.Hepatology communications · 2017Review
- Primary biliary cholangitis: new treatments for an old disease.Frontline gastroenterology · 2017Review
- Recent advances in the diagnosis and treatment of primary biliary cholangitis.World journal of hepatology · 2016Review
- Colchicine--Update on mechanisms of action and therapeutic uses.Seminars in arthritis and rheumatism · 2015Review
- Immunosuppressive therapy in immune-mediated liver disease in the non-transplanted patient.Pharmaceuticals (Basel, Switzerland) · 2013Article
- Liver involvement in subjects with rheumatic disease.Arthritis research & therapy · 2011Review
- Methotrexate for primary biliary cirrhosis: who is to be trusted?Digestive diseases and sciences · 2010Article
- The diagnosis of primary biliary cirrhosis.Autoimmunity reviewsReview
Corrections and comments
- Commented on by
Authors and funding
4 authors at 1 institution in 1 country.
Funding
No grant is acknowledged in the PubMed record.
Abstract
backgroundApproximately 35% of PBC patients have progressive disease despite treatment with UDCA.
aimsWe offered treatment with methotrexate and colchicine to PBC patients who had not responded fully to UDCA, after at least 1 year of treatment.
methodsA total of 91 PBC patients failed to respond adequately to UDCA, defined as patients whose liver biopsies showed persistent interface hepatitis and whose serum alkaline phosphatase levels remained more than 50% above normal after at least 12 months on UDCA. We added colchicine (0.6 mg orally twice daily) for 6 months. If there was no decrease in alkaline phosphatase, methotrexate (0.25 mg/kg lean body weight orally per week) was added. Liver biopsies were performed at least three times: at diagnosis, after a patient had been on UDCA for at least 1 year (mean 3.4 years), and after a patient had been on methotrexate for at least 6 months (mean 2.2 years). A fourth liver biopsy was performed in 51 patients after they had been on methotrexate for at least another year (mean 3.5 years).
resultsFrom the time that methotrexate was begun until the final visit, there were significant decreases in the mean levels of alkaline phosphatase, 323 to 151, ALT, 73 to 39, fibrosis, 2.5 to 2.0, and inflammation scores, 2.0 to 1.0, (p < 0.0001 for all). Based on pre-specified definitions, 73 patients (80%) responded to methotrexate while 18 (20%) did not.
conclusionsIn 91 PBC patients who responded incompletely to UDCA, colchicine and methotrexate significantly improved liver enzyme tests and liver histology.
Indexed as
Identifiers
What OpenQuestion holds
Registered trials
Read under generation 80e0d062 · epoch 390. Bibliography from PubMed, PubMed Central and OpenAlex; grants from NIH RePORTER; trial links from ClinicalTrials.gov; estimates, votes and beliefs from the OpenQuestion graph.