Cupping Therapy for Diseases: An Overview of Scientific Evidence from 2009 to 2019.

Cupping therapy has been accepted worldwide, and many studies have been conducted to reveal its curative effects and mechanisms. To comprehensively evaluate the effect of cupping therapy, database including China Network Knowledge Infrastructure (CNKI), Chinese Scientific Journal Database VIP, Wan Fang Database, Chinese Biomedicine (CBM), PubMed and Web of Science were searched from 2009-2019. We summarized all the meta-analyses, randomized controlled trials, clinical trials and the mechanisms studies of cupping therapy in the previous 10 years, hoping to provide a reference for the clinical applications and studies.

Hawthorn Extract Alleviates Atherosclerosis through Regulating Inflammation and Apoptosis Related Factors: An Experimental Study.

OBJECTIVE: To determine the effects of hawthorn extract on serum lipid levels, pathological changes in aortic atherosclerosis plaque, inflammatory factors, and apoptosis-related protein and mRNA expression in apolipoprotein E gene knockout (ApoE-/-) mice. METHODS: Thirty-six ApoE-/- mice were fed with a high-fat diet starting at the age of 8 weeks. Mice were randomly divided into 3 groups by a random number table including model group, hawthorn extract group, and simvastatin group, 12 mice in each group. Twelve 8-week-old C57BL/6 mice were fed a basic diet and served as control. The mice in the control and model groups were administered 0.2 mL saline daily, the mice in the hawthorn extract and simvastatin groups were administered with 50 mg/kg hawthorn extract or 5 mg/kg simvastatin daily for 16 weeks. After 16 weeks, plasma lipids including total cholesterol (TC), triglyceride (TG), low-density lipoprotein cholesterol (LDL-C) and high-density lipoprotein cholesterol (HDL-C) were determined by an enzymatic assay. Aortic atherosclerotic lesions were observed by light microscopy, scanning and transmission electron microscopy, respectively. Plasma levels of monocyte chemoattractant protein-1 (MCP-1), interleukin-1ß (IL-1ß), adiponectin (APN), and hypersensitive C-reactive protein (hs-CRP) were measured by enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay (ELISA). Protein and mRNA expressions of Bax and Bcl-2 in the aorta were assessed by Western blotting and quantitative real-time polymerase chain reaction (qRT-PCR), respectively. RESULTS: Compared to the control group, the plasma levels of TC, TG and LDL-C were significantly increased and HDL-C were significantly decreased in the model group (P<0.01). Compared to the model group, treatment with hawthorn extract significantly decreased the plasma levels of TC, TG, and LDL-C and increased the plasma level of HDL-C in ApoE-/- mice (P<0.01). The levels of MCP-1, IL-1ß, and hs-CRP in the model group were significantly increased and APN was significantly decreased compared with the control group (P<0.01). Compared to the model group, treatment with hawthorn extract decreased the levels of MCP-1, IL-1ß, and hs-CRP and increased the APN level (P<0.01). Compared to the control group, the protein and mRNA expression of Bax in the model group were significantly increased and the expression of Bcl-2 was significantly decreased (P<0.01). Hawthorn extract also reduced the protein and mRNA expression of Bax and increased the Bcl-2 expression in the aorta (P<0.01). CONCLUSION: Hawthorn extract has anti-atherosclerosis and stabilizing unstable plaque effects. The mechanism may be related to the inflflammation and apoptosis signaling pathways.

Effects of acupuncture on the tissue distribution of Paclitaxel in lung carcinoma mice.

OBJECTIVE: To study whether acupuncture affects the tissue distribution of Paclitaxel in mouse lung carcinoma. METHODS: Totally 90 mice were divided into Paclitaxel group, Paclitaxel + Feishu (BL13) group, and Paclitaxel + Lingtai (DU10) group. Each group was consisted of 30 mice. After Paclitaxel injection, the mice received electro-acupuncture at Feishu or Lingtai acupoints once a day for 8 days. The effect of acupuncture on the tissue distribution of Paclitaxel was evaluated using high-performance liquid chromatography at 1, 2, and 3 h, respectively. The lung, liver, spleen, and kidney were examined for the concentration of Paclitaxel seperately. RESULTS: Paclitaxel was widely distributed in various organs, particularly in the lung, liver, and kidney. Acupuncture at Lingtai or Feishu acupoints resulted in an obvious decrease of Paclitaxel distribution in kidney and delayed Paclitaxel distribution in liver. Meanwhile, it increased the time of metabolism. Acupuncture at Feishu acupoint facilitated the delivery of Paclitaxel to lung more effectively than did acupuncture at Lingtai acupoint. CONCLUSIONS: Applying acupuncture at particular acupoints can influence tissue distribution of Paclitaxel. Tissue distribution change might be one of the mechanisms of acupuncture treatment during chemotherapy.

Role of a novel functional variant in the PPP2R1A promoter on the regulation of PP2A-Aalpha and the risk of hepatocellular carcinoma.

Previously, we identified the genetic variant -241 (-/G) (rs11453459) in the PP2A-Aα gene (PPP2R1A) promoter and demonstrated that this variant influences the DNA-binding affinity of nuclear factor-kappa B (NF-κB). In this study, we further confirmed that the transcriptional activity of PPP2R1A may be regulated by NF-κB through the functional genetic variant -241 (-/G). Moreover, we also demonstrated that the methylation status of CpG islands in the promoter of PPP2R1A influences the activity of this gene promoter. Few studies have examined the role of this -241 (-/G) variant in genetic or epigenetic regulation in hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC). To investigate whether this functional variant in the PPP2R1A promoter is associated with the risk of HCC and confirm the function of the -241 (-/G) variant in the HCC population, we conducted a case-control study involving 251 HCC cases and 252 cancer-free controls from a Han population in southern China. Compared with the -241 (--) homozygote, the heterozygous -241 (-G) genotype (adjusted OR  = 0.32, 95% confidence interval (CI)  = 0.17-0.58, P<0.001) and the -241 (-G)/(GG) genotypes (adjusted OR  = 0.38, 95% CI  = 0.22-0.67, P  = 0.001) were both significantly associated with a reduced risk of HCC. Stratification analysis indicated that the protective role of -241 (-G) was more pronounced in individuals who were ≤ 40 years of age, female and HBV-negative. Our data suggest that the transcriptional activity of PPP2R1A is regulated by NF-κB through the -241 (-/G) variant and by the methylation of the promoter region. Moreover, the functional -241 (-/G) variant in the PPP2R1A promoter contributes to the decreased risk of HCC. These findings contribute novel information regarding the gene transcription of PPP2R1A regulated by the polymorphism and methylation in the promoter region through genetic and epigenetic mechanisms in hepatocarcinogenesis.