中国结合医学杂志（英文版）Chinese Journal of Integrative Medicine

Sixty-one LN patients, who had no activities after corticosterone and cyclophosphamide (CTX) impacting therapy were randomly divided into two groups. The 31 patients in the treated group were given Cordyceps powder 2-4 g/d before meal and artemisinin 0.6 g/d after meal in three portions orally taken for 3 years. The 30 patients in the control group were treated with tripterygiitotorum and/or Baoshenkang tablet. The consecutive observation lasted for 5 years to monitor the clinical manifestations of lupus and laboratory indexes including blood creatinine, creatinine clearance rate (CCr) and antinuclear antibodies (ANA).

Results

The therapeutic effect showed markedly effective in 26 patients (83. 9%), effective in 4 (12. 9%) and ineffective in 1 (3.2%) in the treated group, while in the control group, the corresponding numbers were 15 (50.0%), 8 (26.7%) and 7 (23. 3%), the difference between the two groups in markedly effective rate was significant (P 0.01). In the treated group, C3 level was stabilized at about 1. 21±0. 20 g/L, which was within the normal range. CCr was unchanged as compared before and after treatment, which was significantly different from that in the control group. Moreover, less side-effects occurred in the treated group.

Conclusion

Cordyceps and artemisinin could prevent the recurrence of LN and protect kidney function.