Korean Journal of Acupuncture

Society for Meridian and Acupoint (경락경혈학회)
권호 표지

The effect of acupuncture for changing the levels of erythrocyte sedimentation rate, C-reactive protein and cytokines in the sera of rheumatoid arthritis patients

침 치료가 류머티즘성 관절염 환자의 혈액학적 지표 및 혈장 내 사이토카인에 미치는 영향

  • Kim, Seung-Tae (Acupuncture & Meridian Science Research Center, Kyung-Hee University) ;
  • Kim, Yun-Ju (Department of Meridian & Acupoint, College of Korean Medicine, Kyung-Hee University) ;
  • Lee, Hyang-Sook (Acupuncture & Meridian Science Research Center, Kyung-Hee University) ;
  • Choi, Sun-Mi (Department of Medical Research, Korea Institute of Oriental Medicine) ;
  • Yin, Chang-Shik (Acupuncture & Meridian Science Research Center, Kyung-Hee University) ;
  • Lee, Ji-Young (Acupuncture & Meridian Science Research Center, Kyung-Hee University) ;
  • Park, Hi-Joon (Acupuncture & Meridian Science Research Center, Kyung-Hee University) ;
  • Lee, Hye-Jung (Acupuncture & Meridian Science Research Center, Kyung-Hee University)
  • 김승태 (경희대학교 침구경락과학연구센터) ;
  • 김윤주 (경희대학교 한의과대학 경락경혈학교실) ;
  • 이향숙 (경희대학교 침구경락과학연구센터) ;
  • 최선미 (한국한의학연구원 의료연구부) ;
  • 인창식 (경희대학교 침구경락과학연구센터) ;
  • 이지영 (경희대학교 침구경락과학연구센터) ;
  • 박히준 (경희대학교 침구경락과학연구센터) ;
  • 이혜정 (경희대학교 침구경락과학연구센터)
  • Published : 2009.06.27
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Abstract

Objectives: Rheumatoid arthritis (RA) is a chronic autoimmune disease, principally characterized by synovial inflammation of the joints. We previously reported the effect of acupuncture for RA, but the mechanism is still unclear. Various factors such as oxidative stress and angiogenesis were involved in the pathogenesis of RA, and recently, it has also been reported that cytokines also play a major role in RA. Thus, we investigated whether acupuncture could induce any changes in the levels of cytokines including vascular endothelial growth factor (VEGF), angiogenin and epidermal growth factor (EGF) as well as erythrocyte sedimentation rate (ESR), c-reactive protein (CRP), and rheumatoid factor (RF) in the sera of RA patients. Methods: The forty three patients who met the American College of Rheumatology (ACR) criteria for RA recruited. The acupuncture group (n=21) underwent 14 sessions of partially individualized acupuncture treatment for 6 weeks, and the control group had no treatment (n=13) over the same periods. We evaluated ESR, CRP and RF. In addition, to find out the mechanism of acupuncture, we assessed the changes of the cytokine activities using protein cytokine array in the sera of the patients. Results: Acupuncture significantly decreased the levels of ESR and CRP, but RF were not changed after 6-week acupuncture treatments. Moreover, acupuncture reduced the levels of VEGF, angiogenin and EGF in the sera of the patients. Interestingly, they were related with angiogenesis, which is an important process in the pathogenesis of RA. The levels of oncostatin, interleukin(IL)-$1{\alpha}$, IL-8, leptin, monocyte chemotactic protein-1, macrophage-derived chemokine, macrophage inflammatory proteins-1, platelet-derived growth factor BB and RANTES were not changed significantly. Conclusions: The effect of acupuncture for reliving RA symptoms can be partially explained by inhibition of angiogenesis factors in the sera of the RA patients.

Keywords

References

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