Autoimmune chronic diseases are gaining increasing prevalence in our societies, and therefore require intensified efforts towards their effective treatment. Rheumatoid Arthritis (RA) is one such disabling malady, with yet unknown etiology, attacking the synovial tissue of the joints, driving to loss of function and mobility. RA hits patients in their productive, working age, and is characterized by a strong prevalence in women (~70%). Despite no cure existing, patients receive therapies during the active stage of the malady when inflammation peaks and symptoms become acute. Conventional treatments make use of drugs bearing heavy side effects, however, acupuncture, used by an estimated 13 million of Chinese people and sporadically in the western world, appears to control the symptoms of the disease and/or the conventional treatment’s side effects, that limit the applicability of the therapy and strongly debilitate the patients’ organism. Even so, with few limited exceptions, to date, no molecular rationale for the application of acupuncture is available. Although supported by the World Health Organization (WHO) for the treatment of RA, the use of acupuncture remains limited to the geographical areas that have a tradition for it, or to physicians’ personal interest. [read on]
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