OBJECTIVE: To probe into the efficacy of Huaiqihuang granules in the adjuvant treatment of lupus nephritis and its effects on serum ferritin. METHODS: Prospective study method was adopted

according to the random number table method

84 patients with lupus nephritis in the hospital from Nov. 2018 to Apr. 2020 were divided into the control group（42 cases

prednisone combined with cyclophosphamide） and the observation group（42 cases

on the basis of the control group supplemented with Huaiqihuang granules）. The positive rate of serum antinuclear antibody（ANA） titer

24 h urine protein quantification

serum ferritin（SF）

B lymphocyte stimulating factor（BAFF） and inflammatory factor levels before treatment and after 3 months of treatment were compared between two groups. Clinical efficacy and adverse drug reactions were recorded. RESULTS: After treatment of 3 months

the positive rate of ANA titer

24 h urine protein quantification

serum SF and BAFF levels in two groups were significantly lower than those before treatment

and the observation group was significantly lower than the control group

with statistically significant differences（P<0.05）. Compared with before treatment

the serum interferon-γ levels in two groups increased significantly after treatment of 3 months

and the observation group was significantly higher than the control group; after treatment of 3 months

the IL-4 and IL-10 levels in two groups decreased significantly

and the observation group was significantly lower than the control group

the difference was statistically significant（P<0.05）. After treatment of 3 months

the total effective rate of the observation group was 95.24%（40/42）

higher than 80.95%（34/42） of the control group

the difference was statistically significant（P<0.05）. The incidence of total adverse drug reactions（gastrointestinal symptoms

leukopenia

alopecia

and abnormal liver function） in the observation group and the control group were respectively 11.90%（5/42） and 14.29%（6/42）

with no statistically significant difference（P>0.05）. CONCLUSIONS: Huaiqihuang granules combined with conventional treatment can significantly reduce the 24 h urine protein quantification of patients with lupus nephritis

alleviate the inflammatory state of the body

and also can reduce the serum SF level with higher safety.