Effects of astrogaloside on the inflammation and immunity of renal failure patients receiving maintenance dialysis

Chronic renal failure is a type of clinical syndrome originating from chronic renal diseases. The aim of the study was to investigate the effect of astrogaloside on the inflammation and immunity of renal failure patients receiving maintenance dialysis. We randomly selected 92 renal failure patients receiving maintenance dialysis who were admitted to hospital for treatment between May, 2015 and April, 2016. Patients were randomly divided into the control (n=46) and observation (n=46) groups. Patients in the control group received the regular dialysis plus the basic treatment in Western medicine, while in the observation group, patients additionally received astrogaloside via intravenous injection as treatment. We compared the clinical efficacy of patients between the two groups, residual renal function (RRF), changes in urine volume, variations in inflammatory indicators [C-reaction protein (CRP), interleukin-6 (IL-6), IL-17, and tumor necrosis factor-α (TNF-α)] before and after treatment, and the levels of the thymus-dependent lymphocyte (T cells) subgroup (CD3(+), CD4(+), CD8(+) and CD4(+)/CD8(+)) in the immune system of patients after treatment. In the observation group, the total effective rate was significantly higher than that in the control group (P<0.05). After 6 months, RRF and the urine volume of patients in the two groups were decreased when compared with the levels before treatment, and the decreasing rates of RRF and urine volume in the observation group were significantly lower than those in the control group (P<0.05). After treatment, the levels of human serum C reaction protein (hs-CRP), IL-6, IL-17 and TNF-α in the two groups were lower than those before treatment, and the decrease in the observation group was more significant than that in the control group (P<0.05). Following treatment, the levels of CD3(+), CD4(+) and CD4(+)/CD8(+) in the observation group were higher than those in the control group, and the level of CD8(+) was lower than that in the control group (P<0.05). In conclusion, astrogaloside can delay the decrease in RRF of renal failure patients receiving the maintenance dialysis, ameliorate the inflammatory responses, and enhance the immune function, thereby increasing the disease resistance of patients and improving the clinical symptoms.