Moxibustion and Acupuncture Ameliorate Crohn’s Disease by Regulating the Balance between Th17 and Treg Cells in the Intestinal Mucosa

Zhao, C.

Bao, C.

Li, J.

Zhu, Y.

Wang, S.

Yang, L.

Shi, Y.

Liu, H.

Dou, C.

Ding, G.

Wang, X.

Wu, H.

Evidence-based Complementary & Alternative Medicine (eCAM)

2015

2015

RCT

CROHN'S disease -- Treatment

Acupuncture

ACUPUNCTURE points

Biopsy

C-reactive protein

CROHN'S disease

Hemoglobin

Immunohistochemistry

Interleukins

INTESTINAL mucosa

Moxibustion

POLYMERASE chain reaction

SAMPLING (Statistics)

STAINS & staining (Microscopy)

Statistics

T cells

T-test (Statistics)

TRANSCRIPTION factors

SAMPLE size (Statistics)

DATA analysis

STATISTICAL significance

RANDOMIZED controlled trials

CONTROL groups (Research)

REVERSE transcriptase polymerase chain reaction

DATA analysis -- Software

LYMPHOCYTE count

MANN Whitney U Test

China

Previous studies have demonstrated that acupuncture is beneficial to patients with Crohn’s disease (CD), but the mechanism underlying its therapeutic effects remains unclear. To identify the mechanism by which acupuncture treats CD, the balance between Th17 and Treg cells was assessed in CD patients. In this study, Ninety-two CD patients were randomly and equally assigned to a treatment group that were treated with herb-partitioned moxibustion and acupuncture or a control group with wheat bran-partitioned moxibustion and superficial acupuncture. The effect of these treatments on Th17 and Treg cells and their related molecular markers in the intestinal mucosa were detected before (week 0) and after (week 12) treatment. The results suggested that the ratio of Th17 and Treg cells was significantly decreased after treatment and that the levels of IL-17 and ROR?t in the intestinal mucosa were obviously reduced, while the expression of FOXP3 was increased after treatment in both groups. In the treatment group, the expression of these molecules was more markedly regulated than the control group. In conclusion, moxibustion and acupuncture have been shown to regulate the ratio of Th17 and Treg cells in the intestinal mucosa of CD patients and restore the balance between these immune cell subsets.

Accession Number: 109030801; Source Information: 8/4/2015, Vol. 2015, p1; Subject Term: CROHN'S disease -- Treatment; Subject Term: ACUPUNCTURE; Subject Term: ACUPUNCTURE points; Subject Term: BIOPSY; Subject Term: C-reactive protein; Subject Term: CROHN'S disease; Subject Term: HEMOGLOBIN; Subject Term: IMMUNOHISTOCHEMISTRY; Subject Term: INTERLEUKINS; Subject Term: INTESTINAL mucosa; Subject Term: MOXIBUSTION; Subject Term: POLYMERASE chain reaction; Subject Term: SAMPLING (Statistics); Subject Term: STAINS & staining (Microscopy); Subject Term: STATISTICS; Subject Term: T cells; Subject Term: T-test (Statistics); Subject Term: TRANSCRIPTION factors; Subject Term: SAMPLE size (Statistics); Subject Term: DATA analysis; Subject Term: STATISTICAL significance; Subject Term: RANDOMIZED controlled trials; Subject Term: CONTROL groups (Research); Subject Term: REVERSE transcriptase polymerase chain reaction; Subject Term: DATA analysis -- Software; Subject Term: LYMPHOCYTE count; Subject Term: MANN Whitney U Test; Subject Term: ; Geographic Subject: CHINA; Geographic Subject: ; Number of Pages: 11p; ; Illustrations: 5 Color Photographs, 1 Chart, 4 Graphs; ; Document Type: Article;

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