Impact Of Selfheal Capsule On Autoantibodies And T Helper17Cells In Patients With Hashimoto’s Thyroiditis

Background:In recent years, the incidence of Hashimoto’s thyroiditis increasedgradually, and more and more youger person has Hashimoto’s thyroiditis, male incidencealso increased. The current clinical therapy are mainly thyroid hormone replacement, but stilldoes not retard the progression of the disease. Hashimoto’s thyroiditis is an autoimmunedisease, immune cells and cytokines invovled in its pathogenesis. Studies show that Th1/Th2cell ratio imbalance is one of its pathogenesis. Recent years discovered that T helper17(Th17) cells, a new subset of T cell, is also involved in Hashimoto’s thyroiditis occurrence.Selfheal(Xiakucao) capsule have many functions,such as anti-inplammatory、immunomodulatory and so on. This study aimed to investigate the function of SelfhealCapusule on the immunity regulation of Hashimoto’s thyroiditis, and evaluate its effect.Objective：To observe the impact of Selfheal Capsule on serum autoimmune antibodiessuch as tryroid peroxidase antibody(TPO-Ab)、thyroglobulin antibody(TGAb) and Th17cells in patients with Hashimoto’s hypothyroidism, and investigate the relationship betweenTh17cells and TPO-Ab、TGAb.Methods: Forty-five patients with Hashimoto’s hypothyroidism were randomly dividedinto two groups. twenty-two patients as Control Group were given Euthyrox only, the dosageof Euthyrox was regulated untill the thyroid function normal, then maintained the dosetherapy. The other patients were treated with Selfheal Capsule and Euthyrox as TherpyGroup. The two groups were all treated for two months. At the same time, choose twentyhealthy people as Normal Group. Measured and statistic the changes of laboratory marksincluding TPO-Ab、TGAb、the percentage of Th17cells in peripheral blood CD4+T cell andthyroid-stimulating hormone(TSH)、free triiodothyronine (FT3)、free thyroxine(FT4).Result：①Before treatment,the levels of TPO-Ab、TGAb and the percentage of Th17cells in peripheral blood CD4+T cell in Control Group and Therpy Group were allsignificantly higher than those in Normal Group(P<0.01).②In Control Group and TherpyGroup,the serum TPO-Ab、TGAb concentration were all decreased significantly aftertherapy (P<0.01or P<0.05)，the Therapy Group descended more obviously than Control, the diffrence was significant(P<0.05).③After treatment, the percentage of peripheral Th17cells in Therpy Group was clearly decreased(P<0.01), while the Control Group showed nochange(P>0.05).④There was significant positive correlation between the proportion ofTh17cells and the level of TPO-Ab、TGAb in total fouty-five patients from Control Groupand Therpy Group(respectively,r=0.573，P<0.01;r=0.527P<0.01). In Normal Group, Th17cells percentage and serum TPO-Ab and TGAb levels had no significantcorrelation(respectively,r=0.072,P=0.763;r=-0.069,P=0.772).⑤After treatment,thethyroid function of patients from Control Group and Therpy Group was improvedsignificantly than before (P<0.01), and the thyroid function had no significant difference inthe two groups(P>0.05).Conclusion:The proportion of Th17cells and serum TPO-Ab、TGAb were distinctlyincreased in patients with Hashimoto’s hypothyroidism, and Th17cells has positiverelationship with the levels of TGAb and TPO-Ab which suggest that Th17cells may beinvovled in the occurrence and progression of Hshimoto’s thyroiditis. Selfheal Capusulecombined with Euthyrox treatment Hashimoto’s hypothyroidism can remarkably reduceTPO-Ab and TGAb titers and the level of Th17cells, regulate patients’ immunecondition,while the effect is satisfatory.