Glycyrrhizin combined with acitretin improve clinical symptom of psoriasis via reducing Th17 cell differentiation and related serum cytokine concentrations.

OBJECTIVE To evaluate the effect of compound glycyrrhizin in combination with acitretin on Th17 cell and related cytokines expressions in patients with psoriasis. METHODS A total of 100 patients with psoriasis were enrolled in our study and randomized into an acitretin (Aci) group (n = 50) and a compound glycyrrhizin/acitretin combined treatment (Aci + Glyc) group (n = 50). Both groups were medicated with 3 × 10 mg acitretin per day for 8 weeks but the (Aci + Glyc) group received additionally 3 × 75 mg compound glycyrrhizin every day. A total of 50 healthy individuals were selected as the control group. The peripheral blood Th17 cell percentage as well as the IL-6, IL-17, IL-22 and TGF-β serum concentrations in addition to PASI scores were determined before and after medications. RESULTS The Th17 cell percentages and the serum concentrations of IL-6, IL-17, IL-22 and TGF-β in the Aci and Aci + Glyc groups were significantly higher than those in the control group before treatments (P < 0.05) and were significantly declined after the treatments (P < 0.05), but to a higher extend in the Aci + Glyc group (P < 0.05). The clinical treatment effective rates in the Aci group and the Aci + Glyc group were 76.0% and 90.0% (P < 0.05) compared to invalid events after treatments. CONCLUSIONS Compound glycyrrhizin in combination with acitretin can improve the clinical efficacy significantly when compared with of the solely acitretin medication for psoriasis treatments via down regulating Th17 cell differentiation.