Effect of Anluohuaxian Tablet Combined with y-IFN on Schistosomal Liver Fibrosis

The therapeutic effects of anluohuaxian tablet combined with γ-IFN on schistosomal liver fibrosis and its mechanism were studied in a murine model and clinical cases of schistosomal liver fibrosis.Fifty Kunming mice were randomly divided into 5 groups:normal control group,infection control group,anluohuaxian tablet-treated group,γ-IFN-treated group and combined treatment (anluohuaian tablet+γ-IFN) group.Pathologic changes in liver,including hepatic pigmentation and the size of schistosomal egg granuloma,were observed by HE staining after treatment for 8 weeks.The expression of the type Ⅰ and Ⅲ collagen,and TIMP-1 was detected by immunohistochemistry.TGF-β1 mRNA expression was examined by real-time fluorescent quantitative PCR.Sixty patients with schistosomal liver fibrosis were divided into treatment group and control group.The patients in treatment group were treated with anluohuaxian tablet in combination with γ-IFN for 6 months.Be-fore and after treatment,the changes of symptoms and signs,liver function,serum liver fibrosis in-dexes and imaging indexes were observed.The results showed that as compared with infection con-trol group,all forms of treatments relieved the hepatic pathological injury with apparently diminished size of schistosomal egg nodules and decreased percentage of pigmentation (P<0.05).Furthermore,the expression of collagen Ⅰ and Ⅲ,TIMP-Ⅰ,and TGF-β1 mRNA in combined treatment group was significantly decreased as compared with anluohuaxian tablet-treated and γ-IFN-treated groups (P<0.05).In the clinical observation,the serum liver fibrosis indexes,the portal vein width as well as the spleen thickness was significantly reduced in treatment group as compared with control group (P<0.05).It was concluded that the combined use of anluohuaxian tablet with γ-IFN in schistosomal liver fibrosis could protect liver function,alleviate liver fibrosis,and could be used as a choice in treating patients with schiatosomal liver fibrosis.