Acupuncture improves the symptoms, gut microbiota, metabolomics, and inflammation of patients with chronic obstructive pulmonary disease: a multicenter, randomized, sham-controlled trial protocol
BackgroundChronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD) is a common chronic respiratory disease. The occurrence of COPD is associated with gut microbiota, meticulous metabolism and inflammation. Acupuncture may be effective as an adjunctive therapy for COPD, but the available evidence is limited. Thi...
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Frontiers Media S.A.
2025-03-01
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| Series: | Frontiers in Medicine |
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| Online Access: | https://www.frontiersin.org/articles/10.3389/fmed.2025.1511275/full |
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| author | Yilin Liu Qin Luo Junqi Li Chunyan Yang Fengyuan Huang Guixing Xu Fanrong Liang |
| author_facet | Yilin Liu Qin Luo Junqi Li Chunyan Yang Fengyuan Huang Guixing Xu Fanrong Liang |
| author_sort | Yilin Liu |
| collection | DOAJ |
| description | BackgroundChronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD) is a common chronic respiratory disease. The occurrence of COPD is associated with gut microbiota, meticulous metabolism and inflammation. Acupuncture may be effective as an adjunctive therapy for COPD, but the available evidence is limited. This study aims to confirm whether acupuncture therapy has an adjunctive therapeutic effect on COPD and to investigate the relationship between the efficacy and the gut microbiota, metabolomics and inflammation.MethodsThis study is a multicenter randomized controlled trial. A total of 72 patients with stable COPD eligible will be randomized in a 1:1 ratio to receive either manual acupuncture (MA) or sham acupuncture (SA) without puncturing the skin. There will be no changes to the essential medicines used for all patients. The intervention will be 12 weeks, 3 times per week and follow-up will be 52 weeks. The primary outcome will be the change in COPD Assessment Test (CAT) score before and after treatment. Secondary outcomes will include modified Medical Research Council (mMRC), St. George’s Respiratory Questionnaire (SGRQ), 6-min walk test (6MWT), and the number of moderate or severe acute exacerbations during follow-up. A total of 36 healthy volunteers will also be recruited as normal control. In addition, feces and blood will be collected from each participant to characterize the gut microbiota, metabolomics, immune cells and inflammatory cytokines. Differences between COPD patients and healthy participants will be observed, as well as changes before and after treatment in MA and SA groups. Ultimately, the correlation among gut microbiota, metabolomics, immune cells, inflammatory cytokines and clinical efficacy in COPD patients will be analyzed.DiscussionThis study will evaluate the efficacy and provide preliminary possible mechanisms of acupuncture as an adjunctive therapy in treating COPD. In addition, it will identify biomarkers of the gut microbiota, metabolites, immune cells, and inflammatory cytokines associated with therapeutic efficacy. The results of this study will be published in a peer-reviewed journal. |
| format | Article |
| id | doaj-art-e7345fd36afa4e599025149d328d6ac8 |
| institution | DOAJ |
| issn | 2296-858X |
| language | English |
| publishDate | 2025-03-01 |
| publisher | Frontiers Media S.A. |
| record_format | Article |
| series | Frontiers in Medicine |
| spelling | doaj-art-e7345fd36afa4e599025149d328d6ac82025-08-20T02:55:29ZengFrontiers Media S.A.Frontiers in Medicine2296-858X2025-03-011210.3389/fmed.2025.15112751511275Acupuncture improves the symptoms, gut microbiota, metabolomics, and inflammation of patients with chronic obstructive pulmonary disease: a multicenter, randomized, sham-controlled trial protocolYilin Liu0Qin Luo1Junqi Li2Chunyan Yang3Fengyuan Huang4Guixing Xu5Fanrong Liang6Acupuncture and Tuina School/The 3rd Teaching Hospital, Chengdu University of Traditional Chinese Medicine/Clinical Research Center for Acupuncture and Moxibustion in Sichuan Province, Chengdu, ChinaAcupuncture and Tuina School/The 3rd Teaching Hospital, Chengdu University of Traditional Chinese Medicine/Clinical Research Center for Acupuncture and Moxibustion in Sichuan Province, Chengdu, ChinaAcupuncture and Tuina School/The 3rd Teaching Hospital, Chengdu University of Traditional Chinese Medicine/Clinical Research Center for Acupuncture and Moxibustion in Sichuan Province, Chengdu, ChinaAcupuncture and Tuina School/The 3rd Teaching Hospital, Chengdu University of Traditional Chinese Medicine/Clinical Research Center for Acupuncture and Moxibustion in Sichuan Province, Chengdu, ChinaAcupuncture and Tuina School/The 3rd Teaching Hospital, Chengdu University of Traditional Chinese Medicine/Clinical Research Center for Acupuncture and Moxibustion in Sichuan Province, Chengdu, ChinaHospital of Chengdu University of Traditional Chinese Medicine, Chengdu, Sichuan, ChinaAcupuncture and Tuina School/The 3rd Teaching Hospital, Chengdu University of Traditional Chinese Medicine/Clinical Research Center for Acupuncture and Moxibustion in Sichuan Province, Chengdu, ChinaBackgroundChronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD) is a common chronic respiratory disease. The occurrence of COPD is associated with gut microbiota, meticulous metabolism and inflammation. Acupuncture may be effective as an adjunctive therapy for COPD, but the available evidence is limited. This study aims to confirm whether acupuncture therapy has an adjunctive therapeutic effect on COPD and to investigate the relationship between the efficacy and the gut microbiota, metabolomics and inflammation.MethodsThis study is a multicenter randomized controlled trial. A total of 72 patients with stable COPD eligible will be randomized in a 1:1 ratio to receive either manual acupuncture (MA) or sham acupuncture (SA) without puncturing the skin. There will be no changes to the essential medicines used for all patients. The intervention will be 12 weeks, 3 times per week and follow-up will be 52 weeks. The primary outcome will be the change in COPD Assessment Test (CAT) score before and after treatment. Secondary outcomes will include modified Medical Research Council (mMRC), St. George’s Respiratory Questionnaire (SGRQ), 6-min walk test (6MWT), and the number of moderate or severe acute exacerbations during follow-up. A total of 36 healthy volunteers will also be recruited as normal control. In addition, feces and blood will be collected from each participant to characterize the gut microbiota, metabolomics, immune cells and inflammatory cytokines. Differences between COPD patients and healthy participants will be observed, as well as changes before and after treatment in MA and SA groups. Ultimately, the correlation among gut microbiota, metabolomics, immune cells, inflammatory cytokines and clinical efficacy in COPD patients will be analyzed.DiscussionThis study will evaluate the efficacy and provide preliminary possible mechanisms of acupuncture as an adjunctive therapy in treating COPD. In addition, it will identify biomarkers of the gut microbiota, metabolites, immune cells, and inflammatory cytokines associated with therapeutic efficacy. The results of this study will be published in a peer-reviewed journal.https://www.frontiersin.org/articles/10.3389/fmed.2025.1511275/fullacupuncturechronic obstructive pulmonary diseasegut microbiotaimmune inflammatory responsesprotocol |
| spellingShingle | Yilin Liu Qin Luo Junqi Li Chunyan Yang Fengyuan Huang Guixing Xu Fanrong Liang Acupuncture improves the symptoms, gut microbiota, metabolomics, and inflammation of patients with chronic obstructive pulmonary disease: a multicenter, randomized, sham-controlled trial protocol Frontiers in Medicine acupuncture chronic obstructive pulmonary disease gut microbiota immune inflammatory responses protocol |
| title | Acupuncture improves the symptoms, gut microbiota, metabolomics, and inflammation of patients with chronic obstructive pulmonary disease: a multicenter, randomized, sham-controlled trial protocol |
| title_full | Acupuncture improves the symptoms, gut microbiota, metabolomics, and inflammation of patients with chronic obstructive pulmonary disease: a multicenter, randomized, sham-controlled trial protocol |
| title_fullStr | Acupuncture improves the symptoms, gut microbiota, metabolomics, and inflammation of patients with chronic obstructive pulmonary disease: a multicenter, randomized, sham-controlled trial protocol |
| title_full_unstemmed | Acupuncture improves the symptoms, gut microbiota, metabolomics, and inflammation of patients with chronic obstructive pulmonary disease: a multicenter, randomized, sham-controlled trial protocol |
| title_short | Acupuncture improves the symptoms, gut microbiota, metabolomics, and inflammation of patients with chronic obstructive pulmonary disease: a multicenter, randomized, sham-controlled trial protocol |
| title_sort | acupuncture improves the symptoms gut microbiota metabolomics and inflammation of patients with chronic obstructive pulmonary disease a multicenter randomized sham controlled trial protocol |
| topic | acupuncture chronic obstructive pulmonary disease gut microbiota immune inflammatory responses protocol |
| url | https://www.frontiersin.org/articles/10.3389/fmed.2025.1511275/full |
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