title: [Effects of Sanwushaoxie decoction on IL-18, TNF-alpha, IL-4 and IL-10 in patients with rheumatoid arthritis].
abstract: OBJECTIVE
  To investigate the therapeutic effects of Sanwushaoxie decoction on alternations of serum cytokines in patients with rheumatoid arthritis (RA).
  
  
  METHODS
  Sixty-three (63) RA patients were selected and randomly divided into 2 groups, with the treatment group administered with Sanwushaoxie decoction, one prescription, 2 times a day, while patients in the control group were given Common Threewingnut Root polyglycoside 20 mg a time, 3 times a day. The treatment was lasted for 60 days. Serum concentrations of IL-6, TNF-alpha, IL-4, IL-10 were observed during the treatment.
  
  
  RESULTS
  The clinical effecacy and the experimental indexes were significantly improved in the treatment group than those did in the control group (P < 0.01, P < 0.05). There were significant differences of serum levels of 4 cytokines within the treatment group before and after the treatment (P < 0.01, P < 0.05). The serum levels of IL-4, IL-10 were significantly increased in treatment group compared with those did in the control group (P < 0.01).
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  Sanwushaoxie decoction is an effective agent in regulating cytokines, improving symptoms and experimental indexes in patients with RA.
authors.affiliation: Infectious Diseases Hospital of Hulunbuir City Hailar District, Hailar 021000, China.
authors.forename: Fan
authors.initials: F
authors.lastname: Ding
authors.forename: Yanchun
authors.initials: Y
authors.lastname: Zhang
authors.forename: Yijie
authors.initials: Y
authors.lastname: Chang
mesh_terms: D018501:Antirheumatic Agents / Q000627:therapeutic use*; D001172:Arthritis, Rheumatoid / Q000097:blood* / Q000175:diagnosis / Q000188:drug therapy*; D002478:Cells, Cultured; D016207:Cytokines / Q000097:blood*; D006801:Humans; D007155:Immunologic Factors / Q000097:blood*; D016753:Interleukin-10 / Q000097:blood; D020382:Interleukin-18 / Q000097:blood; D015847:Interleukin-4 / Q000097:blood; D015850:Interleukin-6 / Q000097:blood; D055656:Prescriptions; D011379:Prognosis; D012016:Reference Values; D012720:Severity of Illness Index; D014409:Tumor Necrosis Factor-alpha / Q000097:blood
chemical_list: D018501:Antirheumatic Agents; D016207:Cytokines; D007155:Immunologic Factors; D020382:Interleukin-18; D015850:Interleukin-6; D014409:Tumor Necrosis Factor-alpha; D016753:Interleukin-10; D015847:Interleukin-4