Ma WG, Si YX, Zhang YL, Gao WF, Dong YG, Li YQ, Xu ZF, Xi Q, Li ZZ. Combining acupuncture and mesenchymal stem cell therapy offers promise as a treatment for inflammatory bowel disease. World J Stem Cells 2025; 17(7): 105371 [DOI: 10.4252/wjsc.v17.i7.105371]
Corresponding Author of This Article
Zhong-Zheng Li, Associate Professor, Research Center of Experimental Acupuncture Science, Tianjin University of Traditional Chinese Medicine, School of Acupuncture and Tuina, No. 10 Poyanghu Road, West Area, Tuanbo New Town, Jinghai District, Tianjin 301617, China. lizhzh2008@163.com
Research Domain of This Article
Gastroenterology & Hepatology
Article-Type of This Article
Review
Open-Access Policy of This Article
This article is an open-access article which was selected by an in-house editor and fully peer-reviewed by external reviewers. It is distributed in accordance with the Creative Commons Attribution Non Commercial (CC BY-NC 4.0) license, which permits others to distribute, remix, adapt, build upon this work non-commercially, and license their derivative works on different terms, provided the original work is properly cited and the use is non-commercial. See: http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc/4.0/
Wei-Gang Ma, Yu-Xin Si, Yong-Long Zhang, Wei-Fang Gao, Yu-Ge Dong, Zhi-Fang Xu, Research Center of Experimental Acupuncture Science, Tianjin University of Traditional Chinese Medicine, Tianjin 301617, China
Yan-Qi Li, Qiang Xi, Department of Clinical Practice, Tianjin University of Traditional Chinese Medicine, Tianjin 301617, China
Zhong-Zheng Li, Research Center of Experimental Acupuncture Science, Tianjin University of Traditional Chinese Medicine, School of Acupuncture and Tuina, Tianjin 301617, China
Co-first authors: Wei-Gang Ma and Yu-Xin Si.
Author contributions: Ma WG and Si YX contributed to the conceptualization; Ma WG wrote original draft; Zhang YL, Gao WF, and Dong YG participated in the investigation of this manuscript; Li YQ and Xi Q contributed to visualization; Xu ZF and Li ZZ participated in the review & editing of this article. Ma WG and Si YX contributed equally to this work as co-first authors of this manuscript.
Supported by the National Natural Science Foundation of China, No. 82174524.
Conflict-of-interest statement: All the authors report no relevant conflicts of interest for this article.
Open Access: This article is an open-access article that was selected by an in-house editor and fully peer-reviewed by external reviewers. It is distributed in accordance with the Creative Commons Attribution NonCommercial (CC BY-NC 4.0) license, which permits others to distribute, remix, adapt, build upon this work non-commercially, and license their derivative works on different terms, provided the original work is properly cited and the use is non-commercial. See: https://creativecommons.org/Licenses/by-nc/4.0/
Corresponding author: Zhong-Zheng Li, Associate Professor, Research Center of Experimental Acupuncture Science, Tianjin University of Traditional Chinese Medicine, School of Acupuncture and Tuina, No. 10 Poyanghu Road, West Area, Tuanbo New Town, Jinghai District, Tianjin 301617, China. lizhzh2008@163.com
Received: January 20, 2025 Revised: March 25, 2025 Accepted: June 20, 2025 Published online: July 26, 2025 Processing time: 185 Days and 18.4 Hours
Abstract
Inflammatory bowel disease (IBD) is a persistent gastrointestinal ailment driven by a range of immunological and pathophysiological factors, and often exposes patients to persistent pain and a greater risk of tumor development. In clinical settings, sulfasalazine is among the most common treatments used to manage IBD, but such treatment can result in a range of side effects in addition to leading to relatively poor efficacy. In certain refractory cases, patients must undergo surgical resection of affected tissues, underscoring the need to devise safer and more efficacious forms of alternative treatment. Mesenchymal stem cells (MSCs) have recently been shown to exhibit been shown to exhibit robust immunomodulatory activity and potential for differentiation such that they may be an effective tool for treating IBD. Acupuncture has also shown promise as an efficacious treatment option for IBD, performing better than drug-based treatments in certain clinical trials. Acupuncture is capable of enhancing endogenous MSC proliferation and homing, enabling these cells to more effectively migrate toward target lesion sites and to promote tissue repair. In light of these findings, this review was formulated to survey the potential therapeutic advantages of combining MSCs and acupuncture when attempting to treat IBD.
Core Tip: This paper analyzes and summarizes previous studies and suggests that acupuncture combined with stem cell transplantation may be more effective than monotherapy in the treatment of inflammatory bowel disease and ensure safety. A systematic description of the possible mechanisms of action is provided to support the feasibility of this method.
