Effects of Tanreqing Capsule on the negative conversion time of nucleic acid in patients with COVID-19: A retrospective cohort study.
OBJECTIVE
Traditional Chinese medicine plays a significant role in the treatment of the pandemic of coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19). Tanreqing Capsule (TRQC) was used in the treatment of COVID-19 patients in the Shanghai Public Health Clinical Center. This study aimed to investigate the clinical efficacy of TRQC in the treatment of COVID-19.


METHODS
A retrospective cohort study was conducted on 82 patients who had laboratory-confirmed mild and moderate COVID-19; patients were treated with TRQC in one designated hospital. The treatment and control groups consisted of 25 and 57 cases, respectively. The treatment group was given TRQC orally three times a day, three pills each time, in addition to conventional Western medicine treatments which were also administered to the control group. The clinical efficacy indicators, such as the negative conversion time of pharyngeal swab nucleic acid, the negative conversion time of fecal nucleic acid, the duration of negative conversion of pharyngeal-fecal nucleic acid, and the improvement in the level of immune indicators such as T-cell subsets (CD3, CD4 and CD45) were monitored.


RESULTS
COVID-19 patients in the treatment group, compared to the control group, had a shorter negative conversion time of fecal nucleic acid (4 vs. 9 days, P = 0.047) and a shorter interval of negative conversion of pharyngeal-fecal nucleic acid (0 vs. 2 days, P = 0.042). The level of CD3+ T cells increased in the treatment group compared to the control group ([317.09 ± 274.39] vs. [175.02 ± 239.95] counts/μL, P = 0.030). No statistically significant differences were detected in the median improvement in levels of CD4+ T cells (173 vs. 107 counts/μL, P = 0.208) and CD45+ T cells (366 vs. 141 counts/μL, P = 0.117) between the treatment and control groups.


CONCLUSION
Significant reductions in the negative conversion time of fecal nucleic acid and the duration of negative conversion of pharyngeal-fecal nucleic acid were identified in the treatment group as compared to the control group, illustrating the potential therapeutic benefits of using TRQC as a complement to conventional medicine in patients with mild and moderate COVID-19. The underlying mechanism may be related to the improved levels of the immune indicator CD3+ T cells.
['Zhang|Xing|X|', 'Xue|Yan|Y|', 'Chen|Xuan|X|', 'Wu|Jia-Min|JM|', 'Su|Zi-Jian|ZJ|', 'Sun|Meng|M|', 'Liu|Lu-Jiong|LJ|', 'Zhang|Yi-Bao|YB|', 'Zhang|Yi-le|YL|', 'Xu|Gui-Hua|GH|', 'Shi|Miao-Yan|MY|', 'Song|Xiu-Ming|XM|', 'Lu|Yun-Fei|YF|', 'Chen|Xiao-Rong|XR|', 'Zhang|Wei|W|', 'Chen|Qi|Q|']
D000328:Adult D000998:Antiviral Agents D000086382:COVID-19 D002214:Capsules D004279:DNA, Viral D004365:Drugs, Chinese Herbal D005243:Feces D005260:Female D006801:Humans D007902:Length of Stay D018655:Lymphocyte Count D008297:Male D008516:Medicine, Chinese Traditional D008875:Middle Aged D012189:Retrospective Studies D000086402:SARS-CoV-2 D012720:Severity of Illness Index D016896:Treatment Outcome D055815:Young Adult
Tanreqing Capsule Coronavirus disease 2019 COVID-19 diagnostic testing Negative conversion rate