Cepharanthine for Sjogren’s Syndrome
Cepharanthine works to treat Sjogren’s through controlling production of tumor necrosis factor (TNF), a protein that plays a major role in inflammation. Sjogren’s patients have high levels of TNF in their salivary glands, which sets off a chain reaction that drives inflammation and symptoms. By suppressing TNF, Cepharanthine protects the salivary glands from inflammation, restores healthy gland function, and significantly increases salivary flow rate, thereby relieving many of Sjogren’s debilitating symptoms.
In a breakthrough study published in 2017, Japanese researchers showed that giving Sjogren’s patients just 6 mg of Cepharanthine daily led to a significant improvement in half of the treated patients. In a deeper analysis, they found that all of the patients with SSA antibody levels below 64 U/ml responded excellently to the treatment. Future studies will determine if patients with higher antibody levels can experience similar benefits with higher doses of Cepharanthine.
Cepharanthine for Idiopathic Thrombocytopenic Purpura (ITP)
Clinical trials have shown that many ITP patients who were on a daily regimen of Cepharanthine had a significant elevation in platelet counts without any reported side effects. Incredibly, a number of these patients were still experiencing elevated platelet counts up to 5 months after stopping Cepharanthine treatment.
Research has shown no difference in the results between patients who were treated with Cepharanthine alone and those who were treated with Cepharanthine in combination with Prednisolone (a man-made corticosteroid similar to Prednisone). Thanks to Cepharanthine, many patients were able to either reduce or completely wean themselves off steroids.
In two studies involving pediatric ITP, children who were being administered Cepharanthine had their platelet levels fully restored to normal, even quicker than the standard costly platelet associated IgG treatment. Cepharanthine has even proven to be effective for ITP patients that have become resistant to all other forms of treatment.
Cepharanthine as a Treatment for Sarcoidosis
In a case study where a patient with nodular muscular sarcoidosis (an inflammatory disease that causes abnormal masses to form in many parts of the body) was treated with an oral dose of 4 mg of Cepharanthine per day, which resulted in a reduction of blood serum ACE levels to normal within three months and the sarcoidosis completely disappeared within 10 months. There were still no signs of relapse or reappearance at 20 months following treatment, when the study was published.
Cepharanthine for Hair Loss (Alopecia Areata and Androgenetic Alopecia)
Cepharanthine has been proven to be a safe and effective treatment, accelerating the regrowth of hair in many people that are struggling with different types of hair loss, both alopecia areata and androgenetic areata. Cepharanthine inhibits numerous inflammatory mediators which may help protect hair follicles and increases the production of IGF-1, a hormone critically involved in hair growth. Cepharanthine is officially approved in Japan for treating alopecia areata with a success rate of 57% and 86% at 2 and 6 months, respectively.