Effects of Acupuncture and Moxibustion on Immunologic Suppression in Tumor-bearing Mice

Objective：To observe the effects of electroacupuncture （EA） and moxibustion on the immunologic suppression in tumor.Methods：Forty-eight male Balb/c mice were randomly allocated into an EA group,a moxibustion group,a tumor-bearing group,and a normal group,12 mice in each group.After tumor models were made,mice in the EA and moxibustion groups were treated with EA and moxibustion at Dazhui （GV 14） respectively.Survival rate,tumor inhibited rate,spleen index,and thymus gland index were observed after 6 treatments.The proliferation of spleen lymphocyte of mice stimulated by ConA was measured with AlamarBlue method,and the expression of Foxp3 mRNA,Stat5a mRNA,and Stat5b mRNA of spleen lymphocyte,and Foxp3 mRNA thymus gland lymphocyte were tested with RT-PCR.Results：The survival rate of mice in the moxibustion group was higher than that in the tumor-bearing group without statistic difference.Spleen indexes of mice in the EA group and moxibustion group was higher than that in the tumor-bearing group （P0.05）.Thymus gland indexes of mice in the EA group and moxibustion group were higher than that in the tumor-bearing group without statistic difference.Reducing values of proliferation of spleen lymphocyte of mice in the EA,moxibustion,and tumor-bearing groups were higher than that in the normal group （P0.05）,and the value in the moxibustion group was higher than that in the tumor-bearing group （P0.05）.Expression of Foxp3 mRNA,Stat5a mRNA,and Stat5b mRNA of spleen lymphocyte were up-regulated in the tumor-bearing mice higher than that in the normal mice （P0.05）.The expressions of Foxp3 mRNA,Stat5a mRNA and Stat5b mRNA of the spleen lymphocyte were down-regulated in the EA and moxibustion groups more than that in the tumor-bearing group （P0.05）;the expression of Foxp3 mRNA was higher in thymus gland of tumor-bearing mice than that of the normal mice （P0.05）.Expression of Foxp3 mRNA in thymus gland of mice in the moxibustion group is lower than that in the tumor-bearing group （P0.05）.Expression of Foxp3 mRNA in thymus gland of mice in the EA group was lower than that in the tumor-bearing group without statistic difference.Conclusion：EA and moxibustion could enhance the spleen index and the proliferation of spleen lymphocyte of tumor-bearing mice.The effect of acupuncture-moxibustion therapy on tumor immunologic suppression may be related to the down-regulation of expression of Foxp3 mRNA,Stat5a mRNA,and Stat5b mRNA of the spleen lymphocyte,and Foxp3 mRNA thymus gland lymphocyte.