类风湿性关节炎(简称RA)属祖国医学的“痹证”范畴

是以慢性对称性、多关节表现为主的一种全身性疾病。虽然病因尚不明了

但是认为其发病与自身免疫有关。近年来的研究表明RA与细胞免疫功能缺陷和体液免疫失调关系密切。为探讨Rheumatoid arthritis (RA) is referred to the category of Bi syndromes in traditional Chinese medicine. It is regarded as an autoimmune disease

but the pathogenic mechanism is still to be clarified. In order to observe the effects of the treatment of RA with acupuncture and moxibustion on IL-2

41 patients were divided into warming needle and point injection groups at random

and 19 healthy subjects as control group. The results showed that the IL-2 levels in two RA groups before treatment were obviously lower than that in control group (P 0.05). After treatment the IL-2 level in control group was unchanged

but increased considerably in two RA groups (P 0.01). Generally

IL-2 is considered as a very important signal for regulating immune response. Our results have shown that the decrease of IL-2 in patients with RA should be one of main causes of internal environment disorder

acupuncture and moxibustion as a stress stimulation exerts an influence on the immunity system through neuroendocrine system to improve the IL-2 production.