Effects of tonifying kidney and removing dampness on serum Th17 cells and IL-17 in patients with recurrent genital herpes

LIAO Meng-yi; HE Min; SUI Dao-shun; FANG Feng-yan

doi:10.3969/j.issn.1001-9448.2017.18.036

Abstract：Objective To observe the clinical efficacy of tonifying kidney and removing dampness traditional Chi-nese medicine treatment of recurrent genital herpes (RGH),and to assess the roles of Th17 cells and IL - 17 in the patho-genesis of RGH. Methods Sixty cases of RGH patients were randomly divided into treatment group and control group, and 30 healthy controls were included as health control group. The participants in treatment group were given with tradi-tional Chinese medicine decoction and the control group was given with acyclovir orally. The course of treatment was 6 months. The percentage of Th17 cells in peripheral blood was detect by flow cytometry,and the level of IL - 17 in periph-eral blood was detected by double sandwich enzyme - linked immunosorbent assay (ELISA). Results After treatment, the clinical symptom score of the treatment group was significantly lower than that of the control group (P < 0. 05);and the cured and apparent rate was also significantly higher than control group (P < 0. 05). The proportions of Th17 cells and IL - 17 in peripheral blood of two groups of RGH patients before treatment were significantly higher than those in healthy control group (P < 0. 05). The proportion of Th17 cells and IL - 17 level in two groups of patients with RGH after treat-ment were significantly reduced,and it was significantly more prominent in treatment group than control group (P <0. 05). Conclusion Tonifying kidney and removing dampness can significantly improve the clinical symptoms and signs of patients with RGH,improve the clinical efficacy,reduce the proportion of Th17 cells and the level of IL - 17. Th17 cells and IL - 17 may be involved in the pathogenesis of RGH.