title: Herb-Partitioned Moxibustion and the miRNAs Related to Crohn's Disease: A Study Based on Rat Models.
abstract: Crohn's disease (CD) is a major subtype of inflammatory bowel disease (IBD). Herb-partitioned moxibustion (HPM) has been proven to be effective in treating CD by a large amount of clinical and experimental researches. MiRNAs (microRNAs) are increasingly recognized as important posttranscriptional regulators of inflammatory genes. In this study, we established experimental CD rat models and investigated the miRNAs associated with the onset of experimental CD; then, we further identified CD-related miRNAs that were regulated by HPM and explored the relationship between CD and the potential target genes of involved miRNAs. We found that miR-147 and miR-205 were significantly downregulated in colons of experimental CD rats and may be closely associated with the onset of experimental CD. HPM may extenuate inflammatory responses in colons and ameliorate colonic damages in CD via upregulating the expression of miR-147 and miR-205 and then further downregulating the expression of inflammation-related mRNAs, negatively regulating inflammatory signal pathways, and reducing the production of downstream inflammatory cytokines.
authors: Department of Integrated Traditional Chinese and Western Medicine, Huashan Hospital, Fudan University, Shanghai 200030, China ; Shanghai University of Traditional Chinese Medicine, Shanghai 201203, China.
authors: Kai
authors: K
authors: Wei
authors: Shanghai Research Institute of Acupuncture-Moxibustion and Meridians, Shanghai 200030, China.
authors: Dan
authors: D
authors: Zhang
authors: Shanghai Research Institute of Acupuncture-Moxibustion and Meridians, Shanghai 200030, China.
authors: Jue
authors: J
authors: Hong
authors: Shanghai Research Institute of Acupuncture-Moxibustion and Meridians, Shanghai 200030, China.
authors: Cuihong
authors: C
authors: Zhang
authors: Shanghai Research Institute of Acupuncture-Moxibustion and Meridians, Shanghai 200030, China.
authors: Xiaoming
authors: X
authors: Feng
authors: Shanghai University of Traditional Chinese Medicine, Shanghai 201203, China.
authors: Yan
authors: Y
authors: Huang
authors: Shanghai Research Institute of Acupuncture-Moxibustion and Meridians, Shanghai 200030, China.
authors: Jie
authors: J
authors: Liu
authors: Shanghai Research Institute of Acupuncture-Moxibustion and Meridians, Shanghai 200030, China.
authors: Lingxiang
authors: L
authors: Wu
authors: Shanghai Research Institute of Acupuncture-Moxibustion and Meridians, Shanghai 200030, China.
authors: Huangan
authors: H
authors: Wu
authors: Shanghai Research Institute of Acupuncture-Moxibustion and Meridians, Shanghai 200030, China.
authors: Xiaopeng
authors: X
authors: Ma