Electroacupuncture regulates the DREAM/NF-κB signalling pathway and ameliorates cyclophosphamide-induced immunosuppression in mice

The Role of Epithelial Mesenchymal Transition (EMT) in Pathogenesis of Cardiotoxicity: Diagnostic & Prognostic Approach

Cancer is one of the diseases, which it is not still completely curable; the existing treatments are associated with many complications, that double its complexity. One of the causes of cancer cell metastasis is Epithelial Mesenchymal Transition (EMT). Recently study demonstrated that EMT cause cardiotoxicity and heart diseases such as heart failure, hypertrophy and fibrosis. This study evaluated molecular and signaling pathway, which lead to cardiotoxicity via EMT. It was demonstrated that the processes of inflammation, oxidative stress and angiogenesis were involved in EMT and cardiotoxicity. The pathways related to these processes act as a double-edged sword. In relation to inflammation and oxidative stress, molecular pathways caused apoptosis of cardiomyocytes and cardiotoxicity induction. While the angiogenesis process inhibits cardiotoxicity despite the progression of EMT. On the other hand, some molecular pathways such as PI3K/mTOR despite causing the progression of EMT lead to the proliferation of cardiomyocytes and prevent cardiotoxicity. Therefore, it was concluded that the identification of molecular pathways can help in designing therapeutic and preventive strategies to increase patients' survival.

Effect of perioperative acupoint electrical stimulation on macrophages in mice under operative stress

The strong perioperative stress response caused by surgical anesthesia can significantly suppress immune function, and the body is in a state of immunosuppression for 3 to 4 days after surgery, which leads to an increase in the probability of postoperative infection. Traditional Chinese medicine believes that acupuncture points can "reconcile yin and yang", promote the recovery of immune function, and help reduce the incidence of postoperative infection. Macrophages are an important type of immune cells that participate in the body's innate immunity. They have powerful phagocytosis and clearance functions. They can be polarized into M1 and M2 types under the regulation of the body, and play different roles in fighting microbial infections. Among them, the M1 type can participate in the elimination of pathogens. In this study, we will investigate the perioperative acupoint electrical stimulation to alleviate the immunosuppressive state of surgical stress mice, clarify the regulation of perioperative acupoint electrical stimulation on glucocorticoids and the relationship between NF-κB molecules and macrophage polarization.The key molecules of related pathways were verified by glucocorticoid receptor inhibitors, and it was found that electrical stimulation of acupoints during the perioperative period can affect the polarization of macrophages in surgically stressed mice to the M1 type by reducing the level of glucocorticoids and promoting the expression of NF κB molecules. Further reveal the partial mechanism of electroacupuncture regulating the anti-inflammatory and pro-inflammatory processes of macrophages in the immune response.

The immunomodulatory mechanisms for acupuncture practice

The system physiology approaches that emerge in western countries in recent years echo the holistic view of ancient Traditional Chinese Medicine (TCM) practices that deal with the root, rather than only the symptoms of diseases. Particularly, TCM practices, including acupuncture, emphasize the mobilization of self-healing mechanisms to bring back body homeostasis. Acupuncture has been practiced for over two thousand years to modulate body physiology via stimulation at specific body regions (acupoints). With the development of various research on acupuncture therapy, its regulatory effect on the immune system has been gradually recognized, especially on immunological diseases, including infectious and allergic diseases. In this study, we reviewed the immunomodulatory mechanism of acupuncture and systematically integrates existing research to respectively elucidate the modulatory mechanisms of acupuncture on the innate immune system, adaptive immune system, and well-known neuroanatomical mechanisms, including intact somatosensory-autonomic reflex pathway. With the advances made in recent systems physiology studies, we now have a great opportunity to gain insight into how acupuncture modulates immunity, and subsequently improves its efficacy.

Electroacupuncture Alleviates Pain Responses and Inflammation in Collagen-Induced Arthritis Rats via Suppressing the TLR2/4-MyD88-NF-κB Signaling Pathway

Results

EA intervention and OxPAPC injection could relieve mechanical allodynia and thermal hyperalgesia caused by CIA. Paw edema and pathological damage of synovium were significantly ameliorated after EA intervention and OxPAPC injection. Furthermore, EA intervention and OxPAPC injection markedly reduced the contents of serum TNF-α, IL-1β, and IL-6, as well as the protein expression levels of synovial TLR2, TLR4, MyD88, and NF-κB p-p65. In particular, the expression of TLR2 and TLR4 on synovial fibroblasts and macrophages in synovium was significantly reduced by EA intervention.

Conclusions

Repeated EA stimulation at ST36 and SP6 can effectively relieve joint pain and synovial inflammation caused by RA in CIA rats. The analgesic and anti-inflammatory effect of EA may be closely related to the inhibition of innate immune responses driven by the TLR2/4-MyD88-NF-κB signaling pathway in the synovium.

Research progress on the immunomodulatory mechanism of acupuncture in tumor immune microenvironment

With the constantly deeper understanding of individualized precision therapy, immunotherapy is increasingly developed and personalized. The tumor immune microenvironment (TIME) mainly consists of infiltrating immune cells, neuroendocrine cells, extracellular matrix, lymphatic vessel network, etc. It is the internal environment basis for the survival and development of tumor cells. As a characteristic treatment of traditional Chinese medicine, acupuncture has shown potentially beneficial impacts on TIME. The currently available information demonstrated that acupuncture could regulate the state of immunosuppression through a range of pathways. An effective way to understand the mechanisms of action of acupuncture was to analyze the response following treatment of the immune system. This research reviewed the mechanisms of acupuncture regulating tumor immunological status based on innate and adaptive immunity.

Effects of Acupuncture Treatment in Reducing Sleep Disorder and Gut Microbiota Alterations in PCPA-Induced Insomnia Mice

Chronic insomnia without intervention will do harm to people's physical and psychological health as well as the quality of life. While ensuring efficacy, traditional Chinese medicine therapy, such as acupuncture, overcomes the side effects of drugs. However, the molecular mechanism of traditional medicine is unclear and it encounters many obstacles in repetitiveness and popularization. On the other side, the placebo effects also need to be eliminated during the intervention. In this study, a number of indicators such as duration of sleep latency, serum markers, pineal gland immunohistochemistry, and gut microbes were detected in the PCPA-induced insomnia mice to compare the effects between acupuncture and hypnotic drug treatments. Although the food intake and weight were not changed, the results show that serum maker and gut microbiota alterations were mediated by concurrent changes in sleep disorder induced by PCPA in mice. Compared with the PCPA-induced insomnia group, dopamine, 5-hydroxytryptamine, and norepinephrine were reduced in serum, and the melatonin was increased in the pineal gland of the acupuncture group as well as zopiclone drug group. Moreover, the analysis results from 16S tag sequencing of the gut microbiome bacterial rRNA hypervariable region show the same improvement effects between the two medical intervention groups. A co-occurrence network analysis showed that blank and acupuncture networks exhibited higher similarity than sham and zopiclone networks and the sham network possessed the highest complexity of microbial communities. Taken together, the gut microbiome will likely be a new target for improving sleep disorders, and taking into account the side effects of hypnotic drugs, nonpharmacological interventions such as acupuncture may be an effective means and have greater clinical benefits.

Electroacupuncture Treatment Suppresses Transcription Factor IRF8 in Spinal Cord of Rats with Spared Nerve Injury

Objective

Neuropathic pain with complex mechanisms has become a major public health problem that greatly impacts patients' quality of life. Therefore, novel and more effective strategies against neuropathic pain need further investigation. Electroacupuncture (EA) has an ameliorating effect on neuropathic pain following spared nerve injury (SNI), but the underlying mechanism remains to be fully clarified. Interferon regulatory factor 8 (IRF8), a critical transcription factor, was reported to be involved in the modulation of neuropathic pain. Here, we focused on exploring whether 2 Hz EA stimulation exerts an inhibitory action on spinal IRF8 in SNI rats.

Methods

In this study, SNI rats were treated with 2 Hz EA once every other day for 21 days. Paw withdrawal threshold (PWT) was applied to determine the analgesic effect of 2 Hz EA on SNI rats. The spinal IRF8 and CX3CRl expressions were detected with qRT-PCR and western blot, and immunofluorescence staining was used to evaluate colocation of IRF8 or CX3CRl with microglial activation marker CD11b in the spinal cord.

Results

It was found that SNI induced significant elevation of spinal IRF8 and CX3CRl mRNA and protein expression. Additionally, immunofluorescence results showed that SNI elicited the coexpression of IRF8 with CD11b, as well as CX3CRl with CD11b in the spinal cord. Meanwhile, 2 Hz EA treatment of SNI rats not only reduced IRF8 and CX3CRl mRNA and protein expression, but also reversed the coexpression of IRF8 or CX3CRl with CD11b in the spinal cord, along with an attenuation of SNI-evoked mechanical hypersensitivity.

Conclusion

This experiment highlighted that 2 Hz EA can inhibit IRF8 expression and microglial activation in the spinal cord of SNI rats. Hence, targeting IRF8 may be a promising therapeutic strategy for 2 Hz EA treatment of neuropathic pain.