Progress on clinical and mechanism researches of acupuncture therapy for asthma

Asthma is a chronic lung disease that occurs repeatedly and is hardly cured. Clinical studies have shown that acupuncture can effectively relieve asthma-related symptoms and is an ideal measure to treat asthma. The paper reviews the clinical and mechanism researches of acupuncture for asthma reported in China and other countries in recent 5 years, so as to provide the relevant evidences for the further study on asthma. The results showed that the mechanism of acupuncture in treatment of asthma may be related to modulating immune cytokines, ameliorating iron metabolism disorder, regulating the expression of neurotransmitter and receptor, promoting eosinophile apoptosis, inhibiting the expression of matrix metalloproteinase-9 and matrix metalloproteinase inhibitor-1, suppressing the expression of the related proteins and genes in type 2 innate lymphoid cells, inhibiting the signal pathways such as transforming growth factor-β1/Smad, mitogen-activated protein kinase, phosphatidylinositol 3-kinase/protein kinase B, signal transducer and activator of transcription, and nuclear factor-κB. Accordingly, the airway inflammatory response can be suppressed, the airway hyperreactivity be reduced, and the airway remodeling be relieved.