Treatment of chronic liver diseases with traditional Chinese medicine

Traditional Chinese medicine is still being extensively used for treatment of liver disease in China. The anti-viral herbs, Phyllanthus amarus, P. nir uri and P. urninaria, and Oxymatrine extracted from Sophora flavecientis an d S. subprostratae, have been shown to have a remarkable HBV suppressing ef fect with a serum conversion rate for HBeAg and HBV DNA around 45%, similar to that of IFN-a. The anti-inflammatory compound, Stronger NeoMinophagen C (SNMC), is a Japanese preparation of glycerrhizin, extracted from Glyceriz a glabra, which has shown an effective rate of ALT and AST normalization an d reduction to < 60 U/L in 65.6% and 73.5% of patients. Compound 861, made of 10 herbs with Salvia miltiorrhiza as its chief component, has been shown experimentally to be effective in suppressing fibrogenesis, enhancing coll agen degradation, and inhibiting TIMP expression. Clinically, an open trial of 2000 patients showed improvement of symptoms in 83% and normalization o f serum ALT in 82%. In a controlled study of 107 patients with HBV-related diseases, double liver biopsies showed that the fibrosis reversal rate afte r 6 months treatment with Cpd 861 was 78% in S2, 82% in S3 (precirrhotic st age) and 75% in S4 (early cirrhosis), as assessed by Scheuer's and Chevalli er's criterion. In conclusion, traditional Chinese medicine has great poten tial in the treatment of chronic hepatitis B. (C) 2000 Blackwell Science As ia Pty Ltd.