Effects of electroacupucture at ST36 point on regulatory T cells in a murine model of OVA-induced allergic asthma (55.18)

Abstract

Abstract Allergic diseases, including asthma, are defined as chronic inflammatory disorders originating from an aberrant immune response to innocuous antigens. Current therapies are effective in crosssections of patients, but remain mostly palliative. Given the capacity of regulatory T cells (Tregs) to suppress disease-promoting immune responses, enhancing Treg function represents an attractive therapeutic strategy for the treatment of allergic disease. Among the complementary therapeutic approaches to asthma, acupuncture has been widely used and its efficacy has been well-known. The selected acupoint was ST36, as it is considered of choice to treat asthma. This study was conducted to address not only EA treatment reduce allergic inflammatory processes, but also to observe whether these beneficial effects of EA on asthma could be correlated with CD4+CD25+ regulatory T cells. EA treatment began 7 days after antigen priming and was repeated for 10 consecutive days. Cellular profiles and histopathologic analysis demonstrated that peribronchial and perivascular inflammatory cell infiltrates were significantly lower in control and EA groups compared to OVA and Treg depletion groups. Additionally, the population of CD4+CD25+Foxp3+ in lung cells increased in EA groups, compared to OVA. These results imply that EA at ST 36 efficiently diminishes the bronchial immune-mediated inflammation and that these effects might correlate to regulatory T cells.