title: Curcumin improves treatment outcome of Takayasu arteritis patients by reducing TNF-α: a randomized placebo-controlled double-blind clinical trial.
abstract: Tumor necrosis factor (TNF) inhibitors have been found to exhibit certain efficacy in treating refractory Takayasu arteritis (TA) in clinic despite severe adverse effects. The aim of this study is to investigate a natural anti-TNF compound, curcumin, its function, and its potential as treatment against TA. In total, 246 patients who were diagnosed of acute TA participated have completed this clinical trial. They were randomly assigned in either treatment group or control group, in which they were daily administered with curcumin or placebo accordingly for 4 weeks with weekly revisits for data collection. The treatment outcome consisted of a primary one defined using Birmingham Vascular Activity Score (BVAS) and a secondary one defined by laboratory results, e.g., C-reactive protein (CRP), TNF-α, and erythrocyte sedimentation rate (ESR). In this study, the primary and secondary treatment outcomes were found to be steadily attenuated in patients who received curcumin treatment, while showed no significant change in patients in placebo group. TNF-α was found to be significantly correlated with BVAS scores (γ2= 0.81, p = 0.016), ESR (γ2= 0.76, p = 0.037), and plasma levels of CRP (γ2= 0.79, p = 0.041). The treatment outcome was greatly improved by curcumin administration probably due to its anti-TNF property.
authors.affiliation: Department of Rheumatic, General Hospital of Daqing Oil Field, No. 9 Saertu District, Daqing, Heilongjiang Province, 163000, China.
authors.forename: Nan
authors.initials: N
authors.lastname: Shao
authors.affiliation: Department of Rheumatic, General Hospital of Daqing Oil Field, No. 9 Saertu District, Daqing, Heilongjiang Province, 163000, China.
authors.forename: Huixin
authors.initials: H
authors.lastname: Jia
authors.affiliation: Department of Pharmacy, Meitan General Hospital, Xibahenanli 29, Chaoyang District, Beijing, 100028, China.
authors.forename: Yiwen
authors.initials: Y
authors.lastname: Li
authors.affiliation: Department of Rheumatic, General Hospital of Daqing Oil Field, No. 9 Saertu District, Daqing, Heilongjiang Province, 163000, China. lijingying0127@126.com.
authors.forename: Jingying
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Li
mesh_terms: D000328:Adult; D001799:Blood Sedimentation; D002097:C-Reactive Protein / Q000378:metabolism; D002681:China; D003474:Curcumin / Q000627:therapeutic use*; D004311:Double-Blind Method; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D015990:Placebo Effect; D013625:Takayasu Arteritis / Q000188:drug therapy*; D016896:Treatment Outcome; D014409:Tumor Necrosis Factor-alpha / Q000378:metabolism*; D055815:Young Adult
chemical_list: D014409:Tumor Necrosis Factor-alpha; D002097:C-Reactive Protein; D003474:Curcumin
keywords: Birmingham Vascular Activity Score; C-reactive protein; Curcumin; Takayasu arteritis; Tumor necrosis factor