Acupuncture activates NK cells to fight cancerComplementary medicines such as Chinese herbal medicine and acupuncture (ACUP) has been known to be of benefit as a support treatment for patients with various forms of cancer. While cancer remains one of the highest rated killer diseases in the world today, most people wait until they are ill to seek treatment.This study should serve as a reminder regarding the value of receiving ACUP as a preventative treatment. It also reminds us to take positive actions to safeguard our heath and wellbeing. The following is an abstract of a study titled "Acupuncture May Stimulate Anticancer Immunity via Activation of Natural Killer Cells" by the Department of Medicine, University of California, USA. The study was published by Evidence-based complementary and alternative medicine 2011; 2011:481625. Epub 2011 Mar 10. US authors of the study, Johnston, Ortiz Sánchez, Vujanovic and Li have formulated an "acupuncture immuno-enhancement hypothesis" to account for the ability of ACUP to enhance anti-cancer immune function. In their review paper they hypothetise that ACUP enhances anti-cancer immune functions by stimulating naural killer (NK) cells. The paper summarises current understanding of the mechanisms by which NK cells act to eliminate cancer cells, and reviews evidence that ACUP is associated with increases in NK cell activity. The authors conclude that acupuncture enhances the ability of the immune system to more actively eliminate malignant cells by increasing the ability of NK cells to kill cancer cells. By increasing cross-talk between the neurotransmitter network and immune system, ACUP promotes the induction and secretion of NK-cell activating cytokines, which engage specific NK cell receptors that increase the cytotoxicity of NK cells towards cancer cells.
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