Effect of Oxymatrine Combined with Compound Salvia Miltiorrhiza on Serological Markers of Liver Fibrosis,Tumor Necrosis Factor-alpha and Leptin Levels in Patients with Chronic Hepatitis B

Background:The use of Chinese traditional medicine had demonstrated beneficial effect on the course of chronic hepatitis B,but its mechanism is not fully known.Aims:To observe the effect of oxymatrine combined with compound Salvia miltiorrhiza on serological markers of liver fibrosis,tumor necrosis factor(TNF)-α and leptin levels in patients with chronic hepatitis B.Methods:Sixty patients with chronic hepatitis B and liver fibrosis were randomly divided into two groups,each 30 in number.Patients in the treated group(n=30) received oxymatrine combined with compound Salvia miltiorrhiza,and the control group(n=30) received silymarin,both for 6 months.Serological markers of liver fibrosis as hyaluronic acid(HA),type Ⅳ collagen(Ⅳ-C),laminin(LN) and levels of TNF-α and leptin were determined before and after treatment.Results:In the treated group,levels of HA,Ⅳ-C and LN decreased significantly after treatment,in particular,the HA and Ⅳ-C(P0.01);The TNF-α and leptin levels also decreased significantly after treatment(P0.01).Whereas in the control group,changes of serological markers of liver fibrosis were not significant(P0.05),that of TNF-α and leptin levels was also insignificant.Comparing the two groups,the serological markers of liver fibrosis,TNF-α and leptin levels in the treated group were significantly lower than those in the control group(P0.05).Conclusions:Oxymatrine combined with compound Salvia miltiorrhiza have obvious ameliorating effect on liver fibrosis in patients with chronic hepatitis B and the mechanism involved might be related to the down-regulation of TNF-α and leptin levels.