RESEARCH - A systematic review of randomized clinical trials of Tripterygium wilfordii for RA

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Phytomedicine. 2006 May;13(5):371-7. Epub 2006 Feb 17.

A systematic review of randomised clinical trials of Tripterygium

wilfordii for rheumatoid arthritis.

Canter PH, Lee HS, Ernst E.

Complementary Medicine, Peninsula Medical School, Universities of

Exeter & Plymouth, 25 Park Rd, Exeter, Devon EX2 4NT, UK.

Tripterygium wilfordii is a Chinese herb with immunosuppressive

effects and an established history of use in the treatment of

rheumatoid arthritis (RA). We have carried out a systematic review of

randomised clinical trials (RCTs) which assess the effectiveness of T.

wilfordii in this indication. We included only randomised and

controlled studies which tested the effectiveness of T. wilfordii

monopreparations in the treatment of RA. Studies in any language were

included. A search of five electronic databases from inception to

February 2005 identified 18 articles which could potentially meet our

inclusion criteria. Only 16 of these could be retrieved from the

scientific literature and after reading these in full, only two unique

RCTs meeting our inclusion criteria were identified. Both indicated

that T. wilfordii has beneficial effects on the symptoms of RA.

However, the literature indicates that T. wilfordii is associated with

serious adverse events which make the risk-benefit analysis for this

herb unfavourable. Therefore, we cannot recommend its use.

PMID: 16487688

http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/16487688

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