OBJECTIVETo investigate the relationship between TCM syndrome type and laboratory indexes in patients with systemic lupus erythematosus (SLE).

METHODSThree hundred and eighty-three SLE patients were differentiated into six syndrome types based on the "toxin" sydrome differentiation of TCM, Type 1, the heat-toxin flourishing type; Type 2, the stasis heat with toxin type; Type 3, the turbid toxin congested type; Type 4, the general deficiency with evil stay type; Type 5, the heat-toxin burning yin type; Type 6, the Gan-stagnant with toxin convergency type. The indexes, including complement C3 (C3), immunoglobulin A (IgA), immunoglobulin M (IgM), immunoglobulin G (IgG), alanine aminotransferase (ALT), 24 h urinary protein quantitation, white blood cell (WBC) and platelet (PLT) count, were determined, and the SLEDAI score was calculated.

RESULTSLevels of IgA and IgM in all patients were basically normal. Level of IgG was higher than the normal range in patients of type 1 and 2, being 18,713.81 mg/L and 23,131.54 mg/L respectively, showing significant difference between the Type 2 and Type 3 (P < 0.05); the lowest mean value of C3 presented in patients of type 1 (586.32 mg/L), and that in patients of type 4 was significantly different to that in patients of other types (P < 0.05); count of WBC and PLT was lower in patients of type 5 and significantly different to that in the other five types (P < 0.05); level of 24 h urinary protein quantitation was higher than normal in all the patients and the highest level (2.78 g/24 h) was found in patients of type 3; and the highest level of ALT (112.75 U/L) appeared in patients of type 6 as compared with that in patients of other types.

CONCLUSIONDifferent variations of laboratory indexes present in SLE patients of different syndrome types, there are certain relationship between the TCM syndrome types and the laboratory indexes, and these rules may provide reference for evaluating clinical therapeutic effects.