Zhong Yumei, Lai Deli, Zhang Linlin, Lu Wenting, Shang Yanan, Zhou Haiyan
Chengdu First People's Hospital, Chengdu Integrated TCM & Western Medicine Hospital, Chengdu 610095, China.
Acupuncture and Tuina School, Chengdu University of Traditional Chinese Medicine, Chengdu 610075, China.
Evid Based Complement Alternat Med. 2021 Dec 11;2021:6658946. doi: 10.1155/2021/6658946. eCollection 2021.
Rheumatoid arthritis (RA) is an autoimmune disease that starts with inflammation of the synovium. The pain and joint dysfunction caused by RA urgently need an effective treatment to alleviate the inflammatory reaction and delay the progression of the disease. The pathological damage of RA is proposed to associate with the dysfunction of the programmed cell death 1/programmed cell death ligand 1 (PD-1/PD-L1) pathway. Moxibustion, as a main complementary therapy of traditional Chinese medicine (TCM), has been proved effective to reduce chronic inflammatory reaction on RA, but whether the anti-inflammatory effects are mediated by PD-1/PD-L1 pathway is still unclear. Therefore, moxibustion was conducted in the rats with RA to investigate its effect on PD-1/PD-L1.
The rats' right hind paws were injected with Freund's complete adjuvant (FCA) to establish the model of RA. Seven days after the injection of FCA, moxibustion therapy was performed on the acupoints of Shenshu (BL23) and Zusanli (ST36) once a day for three weeks. Then, ELISA and immunohistochemical methods were used to analyze the influence of moxibustion on the expression of PD-1/PD-L1. If the moxibustion had an effect on the expression of PD-1/PD-L1-related molecules, we would knock down PD-1 with adenovirus vector. After moxibustion therapy, ELISA and histological analysis were performed to observe the anti-inflammatory effect of moxibustion.
The results demonstrated that moxibustion had an effect on the expression of PD-1-related molecules. The results of ELISA manifested that moxibustion decreased the level of IFN- and increased the level of IL-4 and IL-10. HE staining revealed that moxibustion alleviated the proliferation of synovial tissue. However, the anti-inflammatory effect and pathological improvement were weakened when PD-1 was blocked.
The results indicate that moxibustion affected the expression of PD-1/PD-L1-related molecules and can effectively treat RA damage. The anti-inflammatory effect of moxibustion was weakened when PD-1 was knocked down.
类风湿关节炎（RA）是一种始于滑膜炎症的自身免疫性疾病。RA 所致的疼痛和关节功能障碍迫切需要有效的治疗方法来减轻炎症反应并延缓疾病进展。RA 的病理损伤被认为与程序性细胞死亡 1/程序性细胞死亡配体 1（PD-1/PD-L1）通路功能障碍有关。艾灸作为中医主要的辅助治疗方法，已被证明对减轻 RA 的慢性炎症反应有效，但抗炎作用是否由 PD-1/PD-L1 通路介导仍不清楚。因此，对 RA 大鼠进行艾灸以研究其对 PD-1/PD-L1 的影响。
向大鼠右后爪注射弗氏完全佐剂（FCA）以建立 RA 模型。注射 FCA 7 天后，每天对肾俞穴（BL23）和足三里穴（ST36）进行艾灸治疗，持续 3 周。然后，采用酶联免疫吸附测定（ELISA）和免疫组织化学方法分析艾灸对 PD-1/PD-L1 表达的影响。如果艾灸对 PD-1/PD-L1 相关分子的表达有影响，我们将用腺病毒载体敲低 PD-1。艾灸治疗后，进行 ELISA 和组织学分析以观察艾灸的抗炎作用。
结果表明艾灸对 PD-1 相关分子的表达有影响。ELISA 结果显示艾灸降低了 IFN-水平，提高了 IL-4 和 IL-10 水平。苏木精-伊红（HE）染色显示艾灸减轻了滑膜组织的增殖。然而，当 PD-1 被阻断时，抗炎作用和病理改善减弱。
结果表明艾灸影响 PD-1/PD-L1 相关分子的表达，可有效治疗 RA 损伤。敲低 PD-1 时艾灸的抗炎作用减弱。
