Study of peripheral blood inflammatory factor levels and their clinical value in patients with lupus nephritis

To explore the effect of traditional Chinese and western medicine on the levels of inflammatory cytokines in the peripheral blood of patients with lupus nephritis (LN).

A total of 80 patients with LN admitted to the hospital from August 2016 to August 2017 were retrospectively analyzed. They were equally separated into an experimental group and a control group by the different types of medications. The control group was treated with western medicine, and the experimental group was treated with the combination of traditional Chinese and western medicines. The therapeutic effects were compared.

The levels of IL-6, IL-18 and TNF-α in the experimental group after treatment were (5.47±1.66) pg/ml, (31.66±3.87) pg/ml, and (9.28±3.06) pg/ml, respectively, which were significantly lower than (13.71±3.86) pg/ml, (68.47±4.26) pg/ml, and (22.17±6.54) pg/ml before treatment. The difference was statistically significant (t1 = 12.403, t2 = 40.450, t3 = 11.291, all P<0.001). In the control group after treatment, the levels of IL-6, IL-18 and TNF-α were (12.68±1.32) pg/ml, (68.22±3.42) pg/ml, and (19.78±5.57) pg/ml, respectively. The difference in control and experimental groups was statistically significant (t1 = 21.501, t2 = 44.771, t3 = 10.449, P<0.001). The total effective rate was 95.00% (38/40) in the experimental group and 80.00% (32/40) in control group, (X² = 4.114, P<0.001). There SLEDAI scores of the experimental group were much lower than control after 8 and 12 weeks of treatment (t1 = 8.186, t2 = 20.776, P<0.001). Moreover, the liver and kidney Yin deficiency symptoms in both groups were significantly improved after treatment (P<0.01).

The combined treatment of traditional Chinese and western medicine can successfully prevent the secretion of serum IL-6, IL-18 and TNF-α, control the development of disease, boost the therapeutic outcome, and alleviate the immune injury of the body.