[Immune functional changes in patients of acute Henoch-Schonlein purpura and regulatory effect of integrated Traditional Chinese and Western medicine on it]

Abstract

Objective: To observe the changes of immune function in children with acute Henoch-Schonlein purpura (AHSP) and the effects of integrated traditional Chinese and western medicine (TCM-WM) on it.

Methods: Immunological criteria in TCM-WM group (n = 35) treated by Yinfu Decoction (YFD) combined with transfer factor and 35 patients in the control group (n = 35) treated by conventional treatment were observed and compared before and after treatment. Also the criteria were compared with those of 40 healthy subjects.

Results: Before treatment, the levels of IgA, IgM, CD4, CD4/CD8 ratio, rosette forming rate of RBC-C3b receptor in patients were higher than those in the healthy subjects, but the levels of CD8 was obviously lower, the difference was significant (P < 0.01). The above-mentioned criteria were all improved in the two treated groups after treatment, and the improvement was more significant in the TCM-WM group than that in the control group (P < 0.05). Besides, the cure-markedly effective rate in the former was better than that in the latter significantly (P < 0.01).

Conclusion: There exist multiple immune functional disturbance in AHSP patients. Combined treatment of YFD and transfer factor has obvious immune regulatory effect and is an effective therapy with few side-effects and low recurrence rate.