J Tradit Chin Med. 1993 Sep; 13(3): 174-8.

Effect of acupuncture and point-injection treatment on immunologic function in rheumatoid arthritis.

Liu X, Sun L, Xiao J, Yin S, Liu C, Li Q, Li H, Jin B.

General Hospital of PLA, Beijing.

The results of treatment of 54 cases of rheumatoid arthritis (RA) by warm needling (WN) and point-injection (PI) with Zhuifengsu are reported. Good clinical results were observed with an effective rate of 100%. At the same time, changes in cellular and humoral immunity and other parameters in peripheral blood were noted before and after treatment. The NK activity and IL-2 value in RA patients were found to be lower than those of normal individuals; both increased after treatment (P < 0.01). This suggests that the WN and PI with Zhuifengsu exert a regulatory effect on the cellular immunological function.