A recent Chinese systematic review reported clinical benefit from the use of Astragalus membranaceus injections in patients with diabetic nephropathy (DN). Astragalus has traditionally been used for treatment of kidney disease. The review included both randomized and semi-randomized controlled trials. PUBMED, MEDLINE, Chinese journal full-test database (CJFD), Chinese biological and medical database were searched. A total of 25 studies comprising 21 RCTs and 4 controlled trials of 1804 patients (945 in treatment group and 859 in control group) were included. The group receiving Astragalus injection therapy had greater improvement in DN including improvements in levels of BUN, SCr, CCr and urine protein, as well as in systemic improvement as measured by serum albumin, compared to the control group. This study demonstrated that although the bioactive constituents and mechanism are unknown, Astragalus injections may be an important and effective therapy in the treatment of DN, whose treatment is currently limited. (J Ethnopharmacol. 2011 Jan 27;133(2):412-9. Epub 2010 Oct 13.).
