Clinical Study on Multiple TCM Interventions for Patients with Kidney Deficiency， Liver Depression， and Blood Stasis Syndrome Receiving a Second Long-Protocol IVF-ET

OBJECTIVE To observe the clinical efficacy of multiple traditional Chinese Medicine (TCM) interventions for patients with kidney deficiency， liver depression， and blood stasis syndrome receiving a second long-protocol in vitro fertilization-embryo transfer (IVF-ET)-et， and the impacts on expressions of maternal-fetal interface transforming growth factor-β1 (TGF-β1) and forkhead box P3 (Foxp3) and regulatory T cell (Treg). METHODS A total of 123 patients were randomly divided into a treatment group of 62 cases and a control group of 61 cases. The changes in the endometrial thickness， TCM syndrome scores and pregnancy outcome of the two groups were observed before and after treatment. Ten cases from each of the two groups were randomly selected to detect the level of immune cytokines. RESULTS After treatment， the expression of TGF-β1， Foxp3， and Treg of the treatment group increased (P<0.05， P<0.01) and were higher than those of the control group (P<0.05， P<0.01). The TCM syndrome score in the treatment group was lower than that before treatment (P<0.05， P<0.01) and the TCM syndrome score of treatment group was lower than that of the control group (P<0.05， P<0.01). The natural pregnancy rate and the clinical pregnancy rate of second-cycle IVF-ET in the treatment group were higher than those in the control group after treatment (P<0.05， P<0.01). CONCLUSION Multiple TCM treatment with the core thoughts of recuperating kidney and benefiting essence， soothing liver and activating blood has certain effects when applied in patients who failed the long-term IVF-ET protocol， which may be related to the smooth implantation of embryos in the protection of embryos from maternal immune system by regulating the levels of related cytokines in the immune tolerance of the mother-fetal interface.