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Michael McCulloch, LAc, MPH, Michael Broffman, LAc, Jin Gao, MD, PhD and John M. Colford, Jr, MD, PhD

Michael McCulloch and Michael Broffman are with the Pine Street Clinic, San Anselmo, Calif. Michael McCulloch and Jin Gao are with the Institute of Biophysics, China Academy of Sciences, Beijing, China. Michael McCulloch and John M. Colford Jr, are with the School of Public Health, University of California at Berkeley.

Correspondence: Requests for reprints should be sent to John M. Colford Jr, MD, PhD, UC Berkeley School of Public Health, 140 Warren Hall MC 7360, Berkeley, CA 94720 (e-mail: jcolford{at}socrates.berkeley.edu).

Objectives. This meta-analysis was conducted to examine the effectiveness of Chinese herbal medicine (either alone or with interferon alfa) in treating chronic hepatitis B.

Methods. We searched the TCMLARS, AMED, CISCOM, EMBASE, MEDLINE, and Cochrane Collaboration databases and then hand-searched the articles’ bibliographies.

Results. Chinese herbal medicine significantly increased seroreversion of HBsAg and was equivalent to interferon alfa in seroreversion of HBeAg and hepatitis B virus (HBV) DNA; Chinese herbal medicine combined with interferon alfa significantly increased seroreversion of HBsAg, HBeAg, and HBV DNA. The Chinese herbal medicine active component bufotoxin combined with interferon alfa significantly increased HBeAg and HBV DNA seroreversion. The Chinese herbal medicine active component kurorinone was equivalent to interferon alfa in seroreversion of HBeAg and HBV DNA.

Conclusions. Although the quality of existing studies was poor, these data suggest that further trials of Chinese Herbal Medicine and interferon in chronic hepatitis B infection are justified.

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