Because conventional drugs for rheumatoid arthritis (RA) can cause side effects and do not always provide adequate symptom relief, researchers continue to explore alternative therapies.
A randomized study published in Annals of Internal Medicine (2009;151(4):229–240) compared the Chinese herbal extract Tripterygium wilfordii Hook F (TwHF)—also known as lei gong teng or thunder god vine—to the drug sulfasalazine in patients with active rheumatoid arthritis.
Tripterygium wilfordii is a vine native to southern China and has been used in traditional Chinese medicine for more than 2,000 years, primarily for inflammatory and autoimmune conditions. While much of the historical use has been based on uncontrolled or observational reports, more recent clinical trials have examined standardized extracts.
In this study, 121 patients with active RA were randomly assigned to receive either a standardized TwHF root extract (60 mg three times daily) or sulfasalazine (1 g twice daily). After 24 weeks, a greater proportion of patients receiving the herbal extract experienced significant improvement in joint symptoms compared to those receiving the drug.
The findings suggest that Tripterygium wilfordii extract may have clinically meaningful anti-inflammatory effects in rheumatoid arthritis and warrants further study as a potential therapeutic option.
