MOXIBUSTION ALLEVIATES GASTRIC PRECANCEROUS LESIONS IN RATS BY PROMOTING CELL APOPTOSIS AND INHIBITING PROLIFERATION-RELATED ONCOGENES.

It is well known that gastric mucosa dysplasia and intestinal metaplasia are gastric precancerous lesions (GPL). Moxibustion treatment of Sixty SD rats were divided into five groups and rats with GPL were treated with either moxibustion (ST), moxibustion (Sham), or vitacoenzyme. B-cell lymphoma 2 (bcl-2), tumor protein p53 (P53) and cellular Myc (C-MYC), which are related to cell apoptosis, proliferating cell nuclear antigen (PCNA), vascular endothelial growth factor (VEGF), argyrophilic nucleolar organizer region proteins (Ag-NORs), which are associated with cell proliferation, and cell signaling proteins, nuclear factor kappa B (NF-κB), epidermal growth factor receptor (EGFR) and phosphorylated extracellular signal regulated kinase (p-ERK), were measured after moxibustion treatment. Compared with Control group, gastric mucosa in GPL group showed abnormal mucosal proliferation and pathological mitotic figure, the mRNA expression of bcl-2, P53 and C-MYC increased significantly ( Moxibustion treatment inhibited cell apoptosis and reduced gastric mucosa dysplasia by inhibiting the expression of bcl-2, P53, C-MYC and decreased the activity of NF-κβ as well as EGFR/ERK signaling proteins.