Complementary Usage of Rhodiola crenulata (L.) in Chronic Obstructive Pulmonary Disease Patients: The Effects on Cytokines and T Cells

Although chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD) is an inflammatory disease predominantly involving T cells, no study of Rhodiola as an immunomodulator in COPD patients has been reported. In this study, COPD patients took Rhodiola crenulata 500mg (n=38) or placebo (starch/phosphate buffered saline) (n=19) daily for 12weeks and were compared with untreated, age-matched, and sex-matched non-COPD control subjects. Our results showed that serum levels of IL-2, IL-10, and IFN- in COPD patients before treatment are significantly higher than levels in non-COPD controls (p<0.05). A significant decrease in IFN- was seen in the Rhodiola treatment group (p<0.05) but not in the placebo group (p>0.05). The results suggested that Rhodiola treatment had beneficial antiinflammation effects, lower COPD assessment test score and decreased high-sensitivity C-reactive protein, on COPD patients (p<0.05). The effects of Rhodiola treatment on COPD patients were shown to decrease the IFN- concentration and CD8(+) count but increase the expressions of CD4(+)CD25(+)FOXP3(+) and CD4(+)CD25(+)CD45(+)FOXP3(+) in the blood significantly (p<0.05). This is the first trial using Rhodiola as a complementary therapy for COPD patients. T cells play an important role in the pathogenesis of COPD through the increased expression of CD8(+) T cells and IFN- and may be a viable target for potential therapy. Copyright (c) 2014 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.