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The article summarized professor SUN Weizheng's clinical experience in treating multiple myeloma using the clearing-releasing therapy. It is believed that the mechanism of multiple myeloma is kidney essence insufficiency， pathogenic toxin erosion， and blinding of phlegm and stasis. The treatment should consider both the deficiency and the excess， and the root and branch. Thus， the clearing-releasing therapy is proposed. “Clearing” refers to the approach of supplementing deficiency and reinforcing health while advocating the use of clearing and supplementing products to replenish without generating additional pathogenic factors. Additionally， products that clear heat， resolve toxins， dispel stasis， dissolve phlegm， and eliminate masses is suggested to benefit for clearing away pathogenic toxins. “Releasing” means to replenish the normal yang qi with sweet-warm and acrid-warm products on the basis of “clearing” method， and to release the cold pathogen constraint in the muscles and bones. Based on the principle of clearing and releasing， the selfmade Jishi Beverage （济世饮） is formulated to supplement the kidney and secure essence， dispel phlegm and dissolve stasis， resolve toxins and dissipate masses. The prescription can be modified according to syndrome differentiation. It is also advocated to use multiple methods and pay attention to external therapies such as enema for relieving constipation and draining heat， and to combine acupuncture and medicine to relieve pain.
ABSTRACT
ObjectiveTo explore the predictive factors for the efficacy of Yiqi Yangxue prescription combined with western medicine in treating aplastic anemia （AA） in non-elderly adults， so as to provide a reference for predicting the prognosis of this therapy. MethodA retrospective study was conducted with the clinical data of non-elderly adult AA patients who visited 19 hospitals including Xiyuan Hospital of the China Academy of Chinese Medical Sciences from September 2018 to March 2021 and were treated with Yiqi Yangxue Prescription combined with western medicine. According to the efficacy evaluation results at the 6th month of treatment， the patients were assigned into effective and ineffective groups. The two groups were compared in terms of the gender， age， disease classification ［non-severe aplastic anemia （NSAA）/severe aplastic anemia （SAA）］， course of disease， family history， complications， history of drug allergy， baseline blood routine examination ［hemoglobin （HGB）， white blood cell （WBC）， neutrophil （ANC）， platelet （PLT）， and reticulocyte （Ret）］， T lymphocyte subsets， degree of proliferation of nucleated cells in bone marrow， and expression of T-bet and GATA-3. ResultA total of 101 non-elderly adult AA patients were enrolled in this study， including 81 in the effective group and 20 in the ineffective group. The effective group had a higher proportion of the patients without a history of drug allergy than the ineffective group （P<0.05）. The body height， body weight， gender， age， disease classification， course of disease， family history， and complications showed no significant differences between two groups. The effective group had higher levels of ANC and PLT before treatment （P<0.05） and higher proportion of patients with ANC≥1.6×109/L and PLT≥25×109/L （P<0.05， P<0.01） than the ineffective group. The baseline levels of WBC， HGB， and Ret showed no significant statistical differences between two groups. The levels of CD3+HLA-DR+T cells in the effective group before treatment was higher than that in the ineffective group （P<0.05）. The levels of CD3+CD19-T cells， CD4+T cells， CD8+T cells， Th1 cells， Th2 cells， and CD3+CD25+T cells showed no significant statistical differences between two groups before treatment. The proportion of patients with active bone marrow nucleated cells proliferation in the effective group before treatment were significantly higher than that in the ineffective group, while the proportion of patients with reduced or extremely reduced proliferation were significantly lower than that in the ineffective group （P<0.05）. The expression levels of T-bet and GATA-3 genes had no significant differences between two groups before treatment. The multivariate binary logistic regression analysis showed that the ANC level before treatment and history of drug allergy were independent influencing factors for efficacy （P<0.05， P<0.01）， while other indicators were not influencing factors for efficacy. The receiver operating characteristic （ROC） curve was applied to analyze the predictive value of the ANC level before treatment in the treatment of AA in non-elderly adults with Yiqi Yangxue prescription combined with western medicine. The area under the curve was 0.679 （P<0.05）， with the critical value of 1.595×109/L， the sensitivity of 0.42， and the specificity of 0.95. ConclusionThe history of drug allergy， pre-treatment ANC， PLT， CD3+HLA-DR+ T cell levels， and proliferation of nucleated cells in bone marrow before treatment are predictive factors for the efficacy of Yiqi Yangxue prescription combined with western medicine in treating AA in non-elderly adults. This therapy tends to be more effective for the patients with no history of drug allergy， higher ANC and PLT levels before treatment， especially those with ANC≥1.6×109/L， PLT≥25×109/L， and higher CD3+ HLA-DR+T cell levels and the more active proliferation of nucleated cells in bone marrow before treatment.
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ObjectiveTo investigate the efficacy of Bushen Shengxue prescription and Yiqi Yangxue prescription in the treatment of chronic aplastic anemia and the effect on T cell subsets and the expression of T-box expressed in T cells （T-bet） and GATA binding protein 3 （GATA3）. MethodA total of 585 patients with chronic aplastic anemia who were treated in 19 hospitals in China from May 2018 to June 2021 were enrolled. With the prospective， double-blind and randomized control methods， the patients were randomized into three groups： kidney deficiency group， Qi and blood deficiency group， and control group. The three groups were respectively treated with Bushen Shengxue prescription granule， Yiqi Yangxue prescription granule， and Placebo （half the dose of Bushen Shengxue formula granules）. In addition， all of them were given oral cyclosporin and androgen. The treatment lasted 6 months， with 3 months as a course. The blood routine indexes， T cell subsets， and fusion genes T-bet and GATA3 before and after treatment were analyzed， and the safety indexes were monitored. ResultDuring the observation， a total of 75 cases dropped out and 18 were rejected. Finally， 161 cases in the kidney deficiency group， 164 in the Qi and blood deficiency group， and 167 in the control group were included. After 6 months of treatment， the total effective rate was 98.8% （159/161） in the kidney deficiency group， which was higher than the 79.9% （131/164） in the Qi and blood deficiency group （χ2=30.135， P<0.01） and the 61.7% （103/167） in the control group （χ2=70.126， P<0.01）. The total effective rate was higher in the Qi and blood deficiency group than in the control group （χ2=13.232， P<0.01）. After treatment， the hemoglobin （HGB） content increased significantly in three groups （P<0.05） as compared with that before treatment， particularly the kidney deficiency group （P<0.01）. After treatment， the white blood cell （WBC） count and platelet （PLT） count in the kidney deficiency group and the control group increased compared with those in the Qi and blood deficiency group （P<0.01）. There was no specific difference in neutrophils （ANC） after treatment among the three groups. At the same time point， the level of T helper type 1 （Th1） cells， Th1/Th2 ratio （P<0.05）， level of CD4+， and CD4+/CD8+ ratio （P<0.05） were significantly low in the kidney deficiency group among three groups. There was no significant difference in CD19-， HLA/DR+， and CD25+ between the kidney deficiency group and the other two groups， but the T-bet of the kidney deficiency group and the control group was lower than that of the Qi and blood deficiency group （P<0.05）. ConclusionBushen Shengxue prescription exerts therapeutic effect on the aplastic anemia by improving the immunoregulatory mechanism， inhibiting the activity of immune system， modulating T cell subsets， suppressing Th1 and CD4+， and promoting bone marrow hematopoiesis. Moreover， it is safe with little side effects， which is worthy of further promotion.