Acupuncture Alleviates Rheumatoid Arthritis by Immune-Network Modulation.


Author: Xu Y1, Hong S2, Zhao X1, Wang S1, Xu Z1, Ding S3, Zhang K1, Zhang Y1, Xu L4, Yu N5, Zhao T1, Yan Y1, Yang F1, Liu Y1, Yu K1, Liu B1, Guo Y1,6, Pang G4

Affiliation: <sup>1</sup>* Acupuncture Research Center, Tianjin University of Traditional Chinese Medicine, Tianjin 300193, P. R. China.

<sup>2</sup>‡ Acupuncture Department, Zhejiang Provincial Hospital of TCM, Hangzhou, Zhejiang 310006, P. R. China.

<sup>3</sup>¶ Rehabilitation Center-Department of Acupuncture Physiotherapy, Tianjin Nankai Hospital, Tianjin 300100, P. R. China.

<sup>4</sup>§ Tianjin Key Laboratory of Food Biotechnology, Faculty of Biotechnology and Food Science, Tianjin University of Commerce, Tianjin 300134, P. R. China.

<sup>5</sup>∥ Department of Traditional Chinese Medicine, Xijing Hospital, The Fourth Military Medical University, Xi'an, Shanxi 710032, P. R. China.

<sup>6</sup>† College of Traditional Chinese Medicine, Tianjin University of Traditional Chinese Medicine, Tianjin 300193, P. R. China.
Conference/Journal: Am J Chin Med.
Date published: 2018 Jul 12
Other:
 Volume ID: 1-23   ,  Special Notes: doi: 10.1142/S0192415X18500520. [Epub ahead of print]   ,  Word Count: 247  
    Rheumatoid arthritis (RA) is a chronic, systemic autoimmune inflammatory and debilitating disease that involves the systemic imbalance of the immune network. Previous studies have shown that acupuncture can help treat RA. However, its specific mechanisms are not fully understood. Thus, the present study was designed to clarify the mechanisms of acupuncture acted on RA via immune network modulation using complete Freund's adjuvant (CFA)-induced arthritic rats. Results revealed that manual acupuncture (MA) could alleviate the inflammation and pain of infected joints. Moreover, MA could effectively stimulate the innate immune cytokines (IL-1[Formula: see text], IL-1[Formula: see text], IL-6, IL-7, IL-18, TNF-[Formula: see text]) and adaptive immunity cytokines (IL-2, IL-12, IFN-[Formula: see text], IL-4, IL-5, IL-10, IL-13, IL-17) as the main part of the immune response and repaired damage of RA. These complex immunomodulatory processes were analyzed quantitatively by cell-cell communication (CCC) networks. The CCC networks demonstrated that the immune networks were enhanced with the development of RA, while MA enhanced the immune networks in the early stage to act on RA and promoted the immune-network to a normal level at the late stage. Moreover, we found that monocyte/macrophage and endothelial cells were the key cells of innate immunity and body cells; TH1, TH2 and B cells were the key cells of adaptive immunity, which were also the main target cells for MA regulation.



KEYWORDS: Analgesia; Cell–Cell Communication Networks; Complete Freund’s Adjuvant-induced Arthritis; Immune Network Regulation; Manual Acupuncture



PMID: 30001644  DOI: 10.1142/S0192415X18500520