Clinical Efficacy of Bailing Tablet in Treating Interstitial Lung Disease Associated with Connective Tissue Disease

OBJECTIVE To explore the treatment effect of Bailing tablet on patients with connective tissue disease associated interstitial lung disease(CTD-ILD) and its effects on cytokines and T-lymphocyte subsets of patients, and explore its possible mechanism.

METHODS Eighty cases of CTD-ILD patients were randomly divided into control and treatment group. Patients in control group(n=40) were treated with regular treatment, and on the basis of the control group, patients in treatment group(n=40) were treated with Bailing tablets for 3 months. The main outcome measures were the traditional Chinese medicine(TCM) syndrome score, asthma control questionnaire(ACQ) score, overall efficacy, 6-minute walking distance(6MWD), T-lymphocyte subsets(CD4⁺%, CD8⁺%, CD4⁺/CD8⁺T cell ratio), and cytokines(IL-4, IL-10, IFN-γ, TNF-α) levels.

RESULTS After treatment, the ACQ and TCM score in treatment group were lower than those in control group(P<0.05), the overall efficacy and 6MWD in treatment group were higher than those in control group(P<0.05). CD4⁺%, CD8⁺%, IL-4 and TNF-α in treatment group were lower than those in control group(P<0.05). The ratio of CD4⁺/CD8⁺ and the levels of IFN-γ and IL-10 in the treatment group were significant higher than those before treatment, and the increase was more than those in the control group(P<0.05). There were no significant abnormalities in safety indexes and no adverse events in the 2 groups before and after treatment.

CONCLUSION Bailing tablet is effective in the adjuvant treatment of CTD-ILD patients, which can significantly improve clinical symptoms, contribute to the recovery of patients’ cardiopulmonary function, regulate T-lymphocyte subpopulation and related cytokines, reduce inflammatory response, and inhibit the progression of pulmonary fibrosis.