Sjogren's Syndrome In Chinese Medicine Research Progress

Objective:I review here the current research progress of Sjogren Syndrome/Sicca Syndrome (SS in short hereafter), through consulting the recent ten years of related references. This review focuses on the following aspects: etiological factors and pathogenesis, dialectical therapy, exclusive malum, exclusive prescription, and etc. Current problems, as well as future research directions, will also be addressed.Contents:SS is a type of chronic autoimmune disease that employs lymphocyte and plasmacytoid lymphocyte to target and break predominantly the following two kinds of eccrine glands: salivary gland and lachrymal gland. SS is commonly found among menopausal women, and the ratio between men and women is approximately 2:9~40. Current western medicine has suggested that SS is related to a variety of factors, such as genetical inheritance, infection of Epstein-Barr virus, sex hormone, neuronal endocrine system disturbance, immune system disturbance, etc. Because the onset is still unclear, and the clinical phenotypes have a lot of variations, there has been so far no internationally accepted diagnostic standard, nor any prescription to cure this disease. Their medication is mainly focused on giving patients relief from pain, and reducing the damage on the body. These limitations, therefore, gives Chinese traditional medicine a good opportunity to give full play to its own advantages.Although no pathogenic name homologous to SS has been found in ancient literatures, there were a few records on the symptom of eye dryness. Based on its clinical features and pathogenic dryness symptom, Chinese Medical Pa-disease Committee thereby named it Desiccative Pa-disease in 1989.The onset of SS has been found to be related to asthenia of healthy energy and diseases caused by exogenous pathogenic factor, yin asthenia and saliva deficient, stagnation of vital energy and blood stasis, toxico- dryness.The dialectical phenotyping is complicated and varies from person to person. To generalize, the main types of syndrome are yin asthenia generating intrinsic heat, deficiency of vital energy and blood stasis, deficiency of both vital energy and yin, pathogenic dryness impair the lung, and so on. Based on the clinical experiences, various recipes have been tested to be effective to this disease. With the development of Molecular Biology, Genetics, and Immunology, the Chinese drugs preparation is seeing an increasing application in clinical treatment, and has found considerable curative effect.In addition, acupuncture and moxibustion have also been tested to be effective to this disease. Current medical research has shown that acupuncture and moxibustion can modulate cell immunity and humoral immunity. Furthermore, they have influence on various immune factors, and regulate immune system by modulating the hormone level through nerve-endocrine system. This offers a theoretical foundation for using acupuncture and moxibustion to cure SS.Conclusions:According to the recent ten years'literatures, Chinese medical therapy has been shown to have significant effect on relieving symptom, and have little toxic and side effects. It is also shown that Chinese medical therapy has significant prostecdtive efficacy. It should be pointed out, however, that the diagnostic criteria to judge curative effect needs to be normalized.