The Chinese University of Hong Kong, Prince of Wales Hospital, Department of Pediatrics, Clinical Sciences Building, 6/F, Shatin, Hong Kong, China.
Expert Opin Drug Discov. 2013 Jul;8(7):753-67. doi: 10.1517/17460441.2013.795539. Epub 2013 May 6.
Eczema is a common childhood atopic disease associated with chronicity and impaired quality of life. As there is no cure for this disease, treatment relies on topical and systemic anti-allergic or immunomodulating therapies. Topical corticosteroids, macrolide immunosuppressants and oral immunomodulating drugs have been the mainstay for the treatment of recalcitrant disease. However, in China as well as throughout Asia, the use of traditional and proprietary topical and herbal medicines is also popular.
This article reviews the evidence for the anti-allergic effects of topical and oral forms of these medicinal. The authors also present and discuss the current methods of preparation and evaluation for these traditional and proprietary medications. Additionally, the authors present the novel delivery method of employing nanotechnology to deliver these herbal therapies.
Many herbal concoctions have had trials which have claimed therapeutic benefits for eczema. However, the scientific methods in these trials are often flawed and often not objective. In fact, the majority of these trials do not provide proof of objective efficacy for the anti-allergic effects claimed. It is felt that the delivery of herbal medication by nanotechnology has several crucial challenges that certainly need to be overcome for the optimal design of therapies for eczema, through optimizing material properties, methods of delivery and understanding the mechanisms of action.
湿疹是一种常见的儿童特应性疾病，与慢性疾病和生活质量受损有关。由于这种疾病无法治愈，因此治疗依赖于局部和全身抗过敏或免疫调节疗法。局部皮质类固醇、大环内酯类免疫抑制剂和口服免疫调节药物一直是治疗顽固疾病的主要方法。然而，在中国乃至整个亚洲，传统和专利的局部和草药药物的使用也很流行。
本文综述了这些药物的局部和口服形式的抗过敏作用的证据。作者还介绍和讨论了这些传统和专利药物的当前制备和评估方法。此外，作者还提出了利用纳米技术来输送这些草药疗法的新的传递方法。
许多草药制剂已经进行了试验，声称对湿疹有治疗作用。然而，这些试验中的科学方法往往存在缺陷，而且往往不客观。事实上，这些试验中的大多数都没有为声称的抗过敏作用提供客观疗效的证据。人们认为，通过纳米技术输送草药药物存在几个关键挑战，这些挑战肯定需要通过优化材料特性、输送方法和了解作用机制来克服，以便为湿疹的治疗提供最佳设计。
