At the Shanghai University of Traditional Chinese Medicine, researchers are delving deep into the mysteries of acupuncture for treating asthma. Their work could lead to a breakthrough anti-asthma medication targeting specific acupuncture points on the back. But what really goes on at the molecular level behind this ancient therapy?
Deciphering Acupuncture’s Effects
In the latest issue of “Science Translational Medicine” from February 8, 2018, Professor Yang Yongqing and his team showcased remarkable progress after nearly a decade of studying acupuncture’s impact on asthma and identifying potential targets.
Their research not only uncovered new targets through clinical trials but also shed light on how acupuncture triggers various protein reactions in the body. They even found promising molecules mimicking acupuncture’s effects, possibly evolving into versatile “acupuncture drugs.”
Editorial Acclaim
The editor-in-chief of “Science” praised these findings, marking a milestone for traditional Chinese medicine. It’s the first time such practitioners have published original scientific work with independent rights in a specialized journal. It’s also the first confirmation of a new asthma target by Chinese scientists.
Traditional Wisdom Meets Modern Science
Asthma, commonly treated with medications, often comes with side effects. Traditional Chinese medicine, however, has long relied on acupuncture at specific points to improve respiratory function in patients like Shao Jingming did. This wisdom, refined over decades, still holds promise today.
How Acupuncture Works For Asthma
Professor Yang’s team dug into how acupuncture helps asthma. Using mouse models, they honed in on Metallothionein-2 (MT-2) as crucial in alleviating symptoms. By understanding its interaction with Transgelin-2, they revealed how acupuncture eases breathing.
Pioneering New Treatments
Their study also uncovered potential “acupuncture drugs.” Collaborating since 2003, they identified molecules with bronchial-dilating properties similar to acupuncture. These could be the next wave of anti-asthma medications, bridging traditional and modern medicine.
New Frontiers in Asthma Care
Targeting Transgelin-2 offers fresh solutions for asthma treatment, as highlighted by “Science” reviewers. This approach ensures China’s leadership in acupuncture research, blending traditional wisdom with modern technology. Ultimately, acupuncture and its derived drugs offer a holistic approach to asthma treatment.
Effects of acupuncture for the treatment of endometriosis-related pain: A systematic review and meta-analysis – 2017
Author’s conclusions
Acupuncture can alleviate the pain of dysmenorrhoea and reduce peripheral blood CA-125. As a result, the therapy could be applied as a complementary treatment for endometriosis-related pain.
However, few randomised, blinded clinical trials have addressed the efficacy of acupuncture in treating endometriosis-related pain. Nonetheless, the current literature consistently finds that acupuncture yields better reductions in pain and serum CA-125 levels than do control treatments, regardless of the control intervention used.
To confirm this finding, additional studies with proper controls, blinding methods, and adequate sample sizes are needed.
Cochrane Database of Systematic Reviews
Chinese herbal medicine for endometriosis (Review 2012)
Main results
Two Chinese RCTs involving 158 women were included in this review. Although both these trials described adequate methodology they were of limited quality. Neither trial compared CHM with placebo treatment. There was no evidence of a significant difference in rates of symptomatic relief between CHM and gestrinone administered subsequent to laparoscopic surgery (RR 1.04, 95% CI 0.91 to 1.18). There was no significant difference between the CHM and gestrinone groups with regard to the total pregnancy rate (69.6% versus 59.1%; RR 1.18, 95% CI 0.87 to 1.59, one RCT).
CHM administered orally and then in conjunction with a herbal enema resulted in a greater proportion of women obtaining symptomatic relief than with danazol (RR 5.06, 95% CI 1.28 to 20.05; RR 5.63, 95% CI 1.47 to 21.54, respectively). Oral plus enema administration of CHM resulted in a greater reduction in average dysmenorrhoea pain scores than did danazol (mean difference (MD) -2.90, 95%
CI -4.55 to -1.25). For lumbosacral pain, rectal discomfort, or vaginal nodules tenderness, there was no significant difference between CHM and danazol.
Overall, 100% of women in both studies showed some improvement in their symptoms. Women taking CHM had fewer side effects than those taking either gestrinone or danazol.
Authors’ conclusions
Post-surgical administration of CHM may have comparable benefits to gestrinone. Oral CHM may have a better overall treatment effect than danazol and it may be more effective in relieving dysmenorrhoea when used in conjunction with a CHM enema. CHM appears to have fewer side effects than either gestrinone or danazol. However, more rigorous research is required to accurately assess the potential role of CHM in treating endometriosis.
Plain language summary
Chinese herbs for endometriosis
Endometriosis is a common gynaecological condition causing menstrual and pelvic pain. Treatment involves surgery and hormonal drugs, with potentially unpleasant side effects and high rates of reoccurrence of endometriosis. The two small studies in this review suggest that Chinese herbal medicine (CHM) may be as effective as gestrinone and may be more effective than danazol in relieving
endometriosis-related pain, with fewer side effects than experienced with conventional treatment. However, the two trials included in this review were small and of limited quality so these findings must be interpreted cautiously. Better quality randomised controlled trials are needed to investigate apossible role for CHM in the treatment of endometriosis.
Acupuncture for pain in endometriosis (Review 2011)
Twenty-four studies were identified that involved acupuncture for endometriosis; however only one trial, enrolling 67 participants, met all the inclusion criteria. The single included trial defined pain scores and cure rates according to the Guideline for Clinical Research on New Chinese Medicine. Dysmenorrhoea scores were lower in the acupuncture group (mean difference -4.81 points, 95% confidence interval -6.25 to -3.37, P < 0.00001) using the 15-point Guideline for Clinical Research on New Chinese Medicine for Treatment of Pelvic Endometriosis scale. The total effective rate (’cured’, ’significantly effective’ or ’effective’) for auricular acupuncture and Chinese herbal medicine was 91.9% and 60%, respectively (risk ratio 3.04, 95% confidence interval 1.65 to 5.62, P = 0.0004).
The improvement rate did not differ significantly between auricular acupuncture and Chinese herbal medicine for cases of mild to moderate dysmenorrhoea, whereas auricular acupuncture did significantly reduce pain in cases of severe dysmenorrhoea. Data were not available for secondary outcomes measures.
Authors’ conclusions
The evidence to support the effectiveness of acupuncture for pain in endometriosis is limited, based on the results of only a single study that was included in this review. This review highlights the necessity for developing future studies that are well-designed, double-blinded, randomised controlled trials that assess various types of acupuncture in comparison to conventional therapies.
Plain language summary
Acupuncture for pain in endometriosis
Endometriosis is a gynaecological disease that causes chronic pelvic pain, most notably painful menstruation, as the most common complaint. Acupuncture is frequently used to treat both pain and various gynaecological conditions. This review examined the effectiveness of acupuncture for reducing pain in endometriosis; however only one study met our inclusion criteria.
The data from the included study, involving 67 women, indicated that ear acupuncture is more effective compared to Chinese herbal medicine for reducing menstrual pain. The study did not report whether participants suffered any side effects from their treatments. Lager, well-designed studies comparing acupuncture with conventional therapies are necessary to confirm these results.
Hye Lin Woo, KMD,a Hae Ri Ji, KMD,e Yeon Kyoung Pak, KMD,e Hojung Lee,c Su Jeong Heo, KMD, PhD,dJin Moo Lee, KMD, PhD,b and Kyoung Sun Park, KMD, PhDb,∗
Medicine (Baltimore). 2018 Jun; 97(23): e11007.
Abstract
Background:
This systematic review aimed to evaluate the current evidence regarding the efficacy and safety of acupuncture on primary dysmenorrhea.
Methods:
Ten electronic databases were searched for relevant articles published before December 2017. This study included randomized controlled trials (RCTs) of women with primary dysmenorrhea; these RCTs compared acupuncture to no treatment, placebo, or medications, and measured menstrual pain intensity and its associated symptoms. Three independent reviewers participated in data extraction and assessment. The risk of bias in each article was assessed, and a meta-analysis was conducted according to the types of acupuncture. The results were expressed as mean difference (MD) or standardized mean difference (SMD) with 95% confidence intervals (CIs).
Results:
This review included 60 RCTs; the meta-analysis included 49 RCTs. Most studies showed a low or unclear risk of bias. We found that compared to no treatment, manual acupuncture (MA) (SMD = −1.59, 95% CI [−2.12, −1.06]) and electro-acupuncture (EA) was more effective at reducing menstrual pain, and compared to nonsteroidal anti-inflammatory drugs (NSAIDs), MA (SMD = −0.63, 95% CI [−0.88, −0.37]) and warm acupuncture (WA) (SMD = −1.12, 95% CI [−1.81, −0.43]) were more effective at reducing menstrual pain. Some studies showed that the efficacy of acupuncture was maintained after a short-term follow-up.
Conclusion:
The results of this study suggest that acupuncture might reduce menstrual pain and associated symptoms more effectively compared to no treatment or NSAIDs, and the efficacy could be maintained during a short-term follow-up period. Despite limitations due to the low quality and methodological restrictions of the included studies, acupuncture might be used as an effective and safe treatment for females with primary dysmenorrhea.
Altern Ther Health Med. 2010 Nov-Dec;16(6):30-5. Liu H, Li H, Xu M, Chung KF, Zhang SP.
Examining Acupuncture for Trigeminal Neuralgia: A Detailed Analysis
Summary:
This review, published in Altern Ther Health Med in November-December 2010, aimed to assess acupuncture’s effectiveness in treating trigeminal neuralgia (TN). The review encompassed twelve studies examining the efficacy of acupuncture compared to carbamazepine (CBZ), a common treatment for TN. However, due to the low quality of these studies, a comprehensive meta-analysis couldn’t be conducted.
Method:
Researchers delved into English and Chinese databases to identify randomized controlled studies on acupuncture’s impact on TN. They evaluated the methodological quality of selected studies and analyzed the odds ratios (OR) between treatment and control groups to measure efficacy.
Results:
In the twelve studies reviewed, acupuncture was pitted against CBZ with 506 participants in the acupuncture group and 414 in the control group. The studies lacked strong methodological quality, making it challenging to conduct a meta-analysis. Four trials suggested acupuncture was better than CBZ, while eight found no significant difference between the treatment and control groups. Minimal adverse effects were reported in three studies that examined acupuncture.
Conclusion:
The review indicates that acupuncture could be as effective as CBZ in treating TN but with fewer reported side effects. However, due to the low quality of the studies analyzed, the evidence is not conclusive. Better-designed studies are necessary to validate acupuncture as a reliable treatment for TN.
Summary: This study, published in the Chinese Journal of Integrative Medicine in November 2017, aimed to assess acupuncture’s impact on idiopathic trigeminal neuralgia (ITN). Patients were divided into three groups: acupuncture, sham-acupuncture, and carbamazepine (a common medication for ITN). Their pain levels, medication doses, and various sensory evaluations were monitored before, immediately after, and six months post-treatment.
Method: The study included 60 ITN patients and 30 healthy individuals. Patients were randomly assigned to three groups: acupuncture (15), sham-acupuncture (15), and carbamazepine (30). Pain intensity, medication doses, temporomandibular disorder evaluations, masticatory system functionality, and sensory threshold tests were conducted at different intervals.
Results: The acupuncture group showed decreased pain intensity by the end of the study (P=0.012). In contrast, the sham-acupuncture group required increased medication doses (P<0.01). The acupuncture group sustained improvements in myofascial pain and jaw function after six months (P<0.01, P=0.023). Mechanical thresholds improved in the acupuncture group (tactile, P<0.01; vibration, P=0.027), while deep pain thresholds increased in both acupuncture and sham-acupuncture groups (P=0.013).
Conclusion: Acupuncture demonstrated potential in treating ITN by reducing pain and associated secondary myofascial discomfort. This suggests acupuncture as a viable option for managing ITN-related pain.
