SynthesisEuropean journal of gastroenterology & hepatology2020
Combination therapy of obeticholic acid and ursodeoxycholic acid in patients with primary biliary cholangitis who respond incompletely to ursodeoxycholic acid: a systematic review.
Synthesis in European journal of gastroenterology & hepatology, 2020. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 7 papers, 2 of them syntheses that pooled it.
What it found
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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
7 citing papers in PubMed, 2 syntheses or guidelines pooled it, 10 citations in OpenAlex.
- Comparative efficacy and safety of ursodeoxycholic acid, fibrates, and combination therapy in primary biliary cholangitis: an umbrella meta-analysis of meta-analyses.Frontiers in pharmacology · 2026Pooled it
- Response Rate and Impact on Lipid Profiles of Obeticholic Acid Treatment for Patients with Primary Biliary Cholangitis: A Meta-Analysis.Canadian journal of gastroenterology & hepatology · 2021Pooled it
- Breaking the metabolo-immune cycle in primary biliary cholangitis for therapeutic benefit.Frontiers in immunology · 2026Review
- Apocynin ameliorates liver fibrosis events in vivo through modulation of oxidative stress, inflammatory, and apoptotic mediators.BMC pharmacology & toxicology · 2025Article
- Bile acid therapy for primary biliary cholangitis: Pathogenetic validation.World journal of experimental medicine · 2025Review
- Mechanism-based target therapy in primary biliary cholangitis: opportunities before liver cirrhosis?Frontiers in immunology · 2023Review
- 18β-Glycyrrhetinic Acid Protects against Cholestatic Liver Injury in Bile Duct-Ligated Rats.Antioxidants (Basel, Switzerland) · 2022Article
Corrections and comments
PubMed lists nothing against this paper. Absence here is not a guarantee, only a check that was made.
Authors and funding
9 authors at 2 institutions in 1 country.
Funding
No grant is acknowledged in the PubMed record.
Abstract
backgroundAlthough the efficacy of ursodeoxycholic acid (UDCA) and obeticholic acid (OCA) for primary biliary cholangitis (PBC) has been suggested by small trials, a meta-analysis to summarize the evidence has not yet been carried out. The aim of this study was to evaluate the clinical outcomes of the combination therapy of UDCA and OCA compared with UDCA monotherapy in patients with PBC. METHODS AND MATERIALS: We searched the PubMed, EMBASE, the web of science, and the Cochrane Library databases for English-language studies published before September 2018. Studies were included if they were randomized controlled trials (RCTs) and reported relative risk (RR) estimates with 95% confidence intervals (CIs) or related data for the clinical outcomes of different therapies in patients with PBC.
resultsOf the 1169 titles identified, two studies meeting the inclusion criteria were included in the meta-analysis. Approximately 222 patients with PBC were included in this analysis. The results of this study indicated that combination therapy was significantly superior to monotherapy in reducing serum alanine transaminase (mean difference: -15.63 IU/L; 95% CI, -21.59 to -9.68), aspartate transaminase (mean difference: -6.63 IU/L; 95% CI, -11.03 to -2.24), gamma-glutamyl transpeptidase (mean difference: -131.30 IU/L; 95% CI, -177.52 to -85.08), and C-reactive protein (mean difference = -1.17 mg/L; 95% CI, -2.19 to -0.14), but NS in improving primary endpoints of alkaline phosphatase level with 15.0% reduction from baseline, and equal or higher than the upper limit of normal serum total bilirubin (RR = 2.75; 95% CI, 0.43-17.68), conjugated bilirubin (mean difference = -0.06 mg/dL; 95% CI, -0.28 to 0.15), IgM (mean difference = -41.18 mg/dL; 95% CI, -244.45 to 162.09), and adverse events (P > 0.05).
conclusionThis meta-analysis demonstrated that combination therapy with UDCA and OCA provided satisfactory clinical outcomes, which may be a promising alternative for patients with PBC who had an inadequate response to UDCA therapy. Therefore, high-quality RCTs on the safety and efficacy of the combination therapy of UDCA and OCA compared with UDCA monotherapy in patients with PBC should be performed in the future.
Indexed as
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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.