The remedy, made from 21 different herbs, "may contain some active pharmacological compound'' that reduces lupus symptoms, write researchers led by Dr. Hui-Kim Yap, of National University of Singapore. They published their case report in the August issue of Archives of Pediatric and Adolescent Medicine.
Experts estimate that over 500,000 people in the United States — most of them women — suffer from systemic lupus erythematosus, a serious, sometimes debilitating disorder caused by the immune system mistakenly attacking various tissues, including skin, joints, and organs such as the kidneys. Yap and his colleagues describe the case of a 16-year-old Chinese girl whose lupus steadily worsened even though she had received standard prednisolone drug therapy since the age of 7.
The researchers knew that traditional herbal concoctions had "been used to treat rheumatic diseases (like lupus) for centuries in China.'' In fact, derivatives of many of these herbs form about 25% of the active ingredients found in conventional medications.
The authors found that one herbal remedy suppressed overactive immune function in laboratory tests. Based on these results, they decided to test the effectiveness of the mixture in the 16-year-old patient. The investigators report that after 4 months of therapy, ''the patient's clinical and serological (blood test) features improved dramatically after starting therapy.'' Both her high blood pressure and swelling of tissues — symptoms common in lupus — disappeared.
Yap and colleagues point out that the girl had remained on steroid therapy as she received the herbal preparation. They speculate that the two therapies may have acted 'synergistically' to trigger a reduction in symptoms. The herbal concoction included plants such as Astragalus chinesis, Rehmannia glutinosa, and Eucommia ulmoides. Each of these herbs "have been reported in the Chinese pharmacopeia to be active as antirheumatic agents,'' the authors point out. They are performing further testing to identify those compounds that may work to suppress immune activity, and reduce lupus symptoms.
