[Clinical effect of Tripterygiitotorum combined with prednisone and its effect on serum IL-6 level in treating patients with myasthenia gravis].

OBJECTIVE: To explore the clinical effect of Tripterygiitotorum (T II) combined with prednisone in treating patients with myasthenia gravis (MG) and the changes of immune function after treatment. METHODS: Sixty-eight patients with MG were randomly divided into two groups, the 36 patients in the treated group were treated with T II plus prednisone and the 32 in the control group were treated with prednisone alone. The therapeutic effect, serum interleukin-6 (IL-6) and peripheral B lymphocyte levels were observed. RESULTS: The therapeutic effect in the treated group was significantly higher than that in the control group (P < 0.05). There were significant decrease in serum IL-6 and peripheral B lymphocyte in both groups after treatment (P < 0.05), with the decrements more significant in the treated group (P < 0.05). CONCLUSION: The therapy of T II plus prednisone is superior to that of prednisone alone in treating MG, it has a more potent effect of immunosuppression.