Colchicine myopathy in a case of familial Mediterranean fever: immunohistochemical and ultrastructural study of accumulated tubulin-immunoreactive material.

Severe colchicine myopathy occurred in a 24-year-old patient treated with colchicine because of familial mediterranean fever complicated by renal amyloidosis. In addition to prominent autophagic vacuoles containing heterogeneous osmiophilic material and pleomorphous bodies, cytoplasmic deposits of finely granular material were detected that have not been noted in previous cases of colchicine myopathy. This granular material was immunoreactive for antibodies to tubulin, alpha-tubulin, and beta-tubulin. These observations substantiate the suggestion that alterations of the microtubular network represent the initial step in the pathogenesis of colchicine myopathy.