Effect of yangyin jiedu huoxue recipe on hormone withdrawal and disease activity in patients with systemic lupus erythematosus / 中国中西医结合杂志

<p><b>OBJECTIVE</b>To observe the effect of Yangyin Jiedu Huoxue Recipe (YJHR) on the degree of activity integral of systemic lupus erythematosus (SLEDAI) and plasma osteopontin (OPN), and its effect for hormone withdrawal in patients with systemic lupus erythematosus (SLE).</p><p><b>METHODS</b>Seventy-eight patients were randomly assigned by a randomizing digital table to two groups, 42 patients in the treated group and 36 in the control group, all were treated with conventional Western medical treatment, and YJHR was given additionally to the treated group. Changes of SLEDAI and OPN, as well as the daily dosage of prednisone used were observed after 2 courses of treatment.</p><p><b>RESULTS</b>SLEDAI and OPN were lowered in both groups, but the lowering in the treated group [9.17 +/- 4.12, (117.69 +/- 78.50) microg/L] was more significant than that in the control group [11.60 +/- 4.05, (151.09 +/- 83.90) microg/L, P<0.05]. The two indices were positively correlated. The dosage of prednisone daily used in the treated group (10.03 +/- 4.29) was reduced more than that in the control group (15.14 +/- 6.67, P<0.05). SLEDAI of all the patients before and after treatment had a positive relationship with OPN respectively (r=0.44, 0.39) (P<0.05).</p><p><b>CONCLUSIONS</b>YJHR can suppress the activity of disease and be helpful for early withdrawal of prednisone in treating SLE. Plasma level of OPN is related with the activity of the disease.</p>

Effects of Chinese herbal medicine for Yiqi Yangyin Quyu in treating Sjögren's syndrome and on patients' immunologic function / 中国中西医结合杂志

<p><b>OBJECTIVE</b>To investigate the immuno-regulatory and therapeutic effects of Chinese herbal medicine for Yiqi Yangyin Quyu (YYQ, supplementing qi, nourishing yin, removing blood stasis) on Sjögren's syndrome (SS).</p><p><b>METHODS</b>Sixty-two patients were randomly divided into the treated group (37 cases) treated with Chinese medicine and prednisone, and the control group (25 cases) treated with prednisone alone, and another 20 healthy persons were taken as the normal control group. Curative effects was observed, and immunoglobulin (Ig) and T lymphocyte subsets were detected before and after 3 months' treatment.</p><p><b>RESULTS</b>Immunoglobulin (IgG, IgM and IgA) before treatment in SS patients were higher, while the proportion of natural killer (NK) cell and CD4 were lower as compared with those in the normal control group. After treatment, IgG, IgM and IgA lowered to normal levels (P < 0.05), the proportion of NK cell and CD4 rose in both groups (P < 0.05), but CD3 in the control group was still lower than that in the treated group (P < 0.05). The total curative effective rate in the treated group was 91.9%, better than that in the control group (76.0%, chi-squared = 3.92, P < 0.05).</p><p><b>CONCLUSION</b>Chinese herbal medicine for YYQ could improve clinical curative effective rate and regulate immune function in SS patients.</p>