Acupuncture and Moxibustion Inhibited Intestinal Epithelial-Mesenchymal Transition in Patients with Crohn's Disease Induced by TGF- β 1/Smad3/Snail Pathway: A Clinical Trial Study

Objective: To explore whether acupuncture combined with moxibustion could inhibit epithelialmesenchymal transition in Crohn's disease by affecting the transforming growth factor beta 1 (TGF- beta 1)/Smad3/Snail pathway. Methods: Sixty-three patients with Crohn's disease were randomly divided into an observation group (31 cases) receiving moxibustion at 43 degrees C combined with acupuncture, and a control group (32 cases) receiving moxibustion at 37 degrees C combined with sham acupuncture using a random number table. Patients were treated for 12 weeks. Crohn's Disease Activity Index (CDAI) was used to evaluate disease activity. Hematoxylin-eosin staining and transmission electron microscopy were utilized to observe the morphological and ultrastructural changes. Immunohistochemistry was used to detect the expression of transforming growth factor beta 1 (TGF-beta 1), T beta R1, T beta R2, Smad3, Snail, E-cadherin and fibronectin in intestinal mucosal tissues. Results: The decrease of the CDAI score, morphological and ultrastructural changes were more significant in observation group. The expression levels of TGF- beta 1, T beta R2, Smad3, and Snail in the observation group were significantly lower than those before the treatment (PP<0.01). After treatment, the expression levels of TGF-beta 1, T beta R2, and Snail in the observation group were significantly lower than those in the control group (all P<0.05); compared with the control group, the expression of fibronectin in the observation group was significantly decreased, and the expression of E-cadherin was significantly increased (all P<0.05). Conclusions: Moxibustion at 43 degrees C combined with acupuncture may suppress TGF-beta 1/Smad3/Snail pathway-mediated epithelial-mesenchymal transition of intestinal epithelial cells in Crohn's disease patients by inhibiting the expression levels of TGF-beta 1, T beta R2, Smad3, and Snail.