[Effect of Huangbai Liquid on expression of human beta-defensin-2 mRNA in skin lesions of patients with recurrent genital herpes].

Objective: To investigate the expression of human beta-defensin-2 (HBD-2) mRNA in skin lesions of patients with recurrent genital herpes (RGH) and the effect of Huangbai Liquid (HL) on it.

Methods: Twenty-seven patients were randomly assigned to 2 groups, the HL group (n = 14) treated with HL and the famciclovir group (n = 13) with famciclovir. HBD-2 expression of patients were detected before and after the treatment and compared with that of 10 healthy subjects.

Results: HBD-2 expression was found in the skin lesions of both the healthy persons and the RGH patients before treatment. It is higher significantly in the HL group than in the famciclovir group after treatment.

Conclusion: HL was suitable for treatment of RGH since it could improve immune function of RGH patients and keep a rather higher concentration of HBD-2 expression in local skin lesions.