Assessing the effect of traditional Chinese medicine on CD4+ lymphocyte count of 807 HIV/AIDS cases

Abstract

National Free Traditional Chinese Medicine (TCM) HIV/AIDS Treatment Program had been carried out for more than 5 years, treating 9267 cases accumulately by 2009. We report the 3-year outcome on CD4+ lymphocyte count of 807 cases of HIV/AIDS enrolled in the National Free TCM HIV/AIDS Treatment Pro- gram, the CD4+ lymphocyte count were measured every 6 month at 7 time points (0, 6, 12, 18, 24, 30, 36 month). The results showed that the overall CD4+ ly mphocyte count maintained stable at the 6th month and the 12th month, declined significantly at the 18th month, 24th month and 30th month, then elevated to the pre-treatment level at the 36th month. Patients with pre-treatment CD4+ lymphocyte count level < 200/mm3, who possibly combined HAART therapy, had CD4+ lymphocyte count elevated significantly after all visits. Patients with pre-treatment CD4+ lymphocyte count level between 200 and 350/mm3 mainta- ined stable before the 36th month, and then rosed significantly, which implicated the long-term effect of TCM. Patients with pre-treatment CD4+ lymphocyte count level > 350/mm3 had CD4+ lymphocyte count declined significantly after all visits. In summary, combined treatment of Chinese herbal medicine and conventional therapy on HIV/AIDS suggested promising effect, but more evidences from larger, rigorous designed studies still needed to support the affirmative effect of TCM in the future.

Share and Cite:

Wang, J. , Zou, W. , Liu, Y. , Xu, L. , Lu, F. , Wang, Y. , Zhang, G. , Lu, J. and Zhou, J. (2010) Assessing the effect of traditional Chinese medicine on CD4+ lymphocyte count of 807 HIV/AIDS cases. Journal of Biomedical Science and Engineering, 3, 833-836. doi: 10.4236/jbise.2010.39112.

Conflicts of Interest

The authors declare no conflicts of interest.

References

[1] Wang, L., Wang, N., Wang, L., Li, D., Jia, M., Gao, X., et al. (2009) The 2007 estimates for people at risk for and living with HIV in China: Progress and challenges. Journal of Acquired Immune Deficiency Syndromes, 50(4), 414-418.
[2] State Council AIDS Working Committee Office, UN. Theme Group on AIDS in China. A Joint Assessment of HIV/AIDS Prevention, Treatment and Care in China. Ministry of Health, Beijing, China, 2007.
[3] Zhang, F.J., Pan, J., Yu, L., et al. (2005) Current progress of China’s free ART program. Cell Research, 15(11-12), 877-882.
[4] Zhang, F., Haberer, J.E., Wang, Y., et al. (2007) The Chinese free antiretroviral treatment program: Challeng- es and responses. Acquired Immune Deficiency Syndrome, 21(Suppl 8), 143-148.
[5] Fahey, J.L., Taylor, J.M., Manna, B., et al. (1998) Prognostic significance of plasma markers of immune activation, HIV viral load and CD4 T-cell measurements. Acq- uired Immune Deficiency Syndrome, 12(13), 1581-1590.
[6] Vlahov, D., Graham, N., Hoover, D., et al. (1998) Prognostic indicators for AIDS and infectious disease death in HIV-infected injection drug users: Plasma viral load and CD4+ cell count. Joint Admission Test for Msc, 279(1), 35-40.
[7] Chinese Center for Disease Control and Prevention. Ch- ina Free ART Manual. Ministry of Health, Beijing, China, 2005.
[8] Wei, J.N., Sun, L.M., Lv, W.B., et al. (2005) HIV/AIDS case report with TCM treatment lasted for 10 years. Jo- urnal of Traditional Chinese Medicine, 46(11), 829-831.
[9] Guan, C.F., Wu, X.X., Lu, Y.Z., et al. (1995) Experimental study of monkey model of AIDS with Zhongyan. Chinese Journal of Information on TCM, 2(5), 42-46.
[10] Wang, J., Liu, Y. and Zou, W. (2008) Clinical observations on 100 HIV/AIDS cases treated with Chinese herb aining granule plus HAART. Chinese Journal of AIDS & STD, 14(2), 101-107.

Copyright © 2024 by authors and Scientific Research Publishing Inc.

Creative Commons License

This work and the related PDF file are licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License.