Effect of Xuebijing Injection on expression of interleukin-6 and tumor necrosis factor-α in patients with severe pneumonia / 中草药

ABSTRACT

Objective: To observe the effect of Xuebijing Injection on the expression of interleukin-6 (IL-6) and tumor necrosis factor-α (TNF-α) in patients with severe pneumonia. Methods: Totally 100 patients with severe pneumonia were randomly assigned to the conventional treatment group (n = 50) and Xuebijing treatment group (n = 50). Each group was given conventional treatment, while in the Xuebijing treatment group, Xuebijing Injection was additionally given for consecutive 7 d. Ten healthy people were chosen as normal control group. The changes of patients' body temperature, white blood cell count, C-reactive protein, arterial oxygenation, and oxygenation index in two groups were compared. The expression levels of IL-6 and TNF-α were detected by ELISA method at different time points. Results: In conventional treatment group and Xuebijing treatment group, the patients' body temperature, white blood cell count, C-reactive protein, arterial oxygenation, and oxygenation index were significantly improved after treatment (P < 0.01). Compared with conventional treatment group, in Xuebijing treatment group, these indicators were significantly improved after treatment (P < 0.05 or 0.01). Compared with normal control group, in conventional treatment group and Xuebijing treatment group, the expression levels of IL-6 and TNF-α were significantly higher. Compared with the conventional treatment group, in Xuebijing treatment group, the expression levels of IL-6 and TNF-α had no significant difference before the treatment. On days 3 and 7 after Xuebijing administration, the expression levels of IL-6 and TNF-α decreased than those before the treatment. The expression levels of IL-6 and TNF-α in Xuebijing treatment group significantly decreased than those in the conventional treatment group. Conclusion: Xuebijing Injection can reduce the levels of IL-6 and TNF-α in patients with severe pneumonia, thus this agent has certain auxiliary therapeutic effect in the treatment of patients with severe pneumonia.