Acupuncture Therapy on Dementia: Explained with an Integrated Analysis on Therapeutic Targets and Associated Mechanisms

Journal of Alzheimer s Disease, vol. 94, pp. S141–S158

Abstract

BACKGROUND: Dementia, mainly Alzheimer's disease (AD) and vascular dementia (VaD), remains a global health challenge. Previous studies have demonstrated the benefits of acupuncture therapy (AT) in improving dementia. Nevertheless, the therapeutic targets and integrated biological mechanisms involved remain ambiguous. OBJECTIVE: To identify therapeutic targets and biological mechanisms of AT in treating dementia by integrated analysis strategy. METHODS: By the identification of differentially expressed genes (DEGs) of AD, VaD, and molecular targets of AT active components, the acupuncture therapeutic targets associated with the biological response to AD and VaD were extracted. Therapeutic targets-based functional enrichment analysis was conducted, and multiple networks were constructed. AT-therapeutic crucial targets were captured by weighted gene co-expression network analysis (WGCNA). The interactions between crucial targets with AT active components were verified by molecular docking. RESULTS: Our results demonstrated that 132 and 76 acupuncture therapeutic targets were associated with AD and VaD. AT-therapeutic crucial targets including 58 for AD and 24 for VaD were captured by WGCNA, with 11 in shared, including NMU, GRP, TAC1, ADRA1D, and SST. In addition, 35 and 14 signaling pathways were significantly enriched by functional enrichment analysis, with 6 mutual pathways including neuroactive ligand-receptor interaction, GABAergic synapse, calcium signaling pathway, cAMP signaling pathway, chemokine signaling pathway, and inflammatory mediator regulation of TRP channels. CONCLUSION: The improvement of AD and VaD by AT was associated with modulation of synaptic function, immunity, inflammation, and apoptosis. Our study clarified the therapeutic targets of AT on dementia, providing valuable clues for complementing and combining pharmacotherapy.

Authors 6

1. Dun Li

   Tianjin University of Traditional Chinese Medicine

   Affiliation as printed

   School of Integrative Medicine, Tianjin University of Traditional Chinese Medicine, Tianjin, China

2. Hongxi Yang

   Tianjin Medical University

   Affiliation as printed

   School of Basic Medical Sciences, Tianjin Medical University, Tianjin, China

3. Mingqian Lyu Aachen Department of Computer Science

   RWTH Aachen University

   Affiliation as printed

   Department of Computer Science, RWTH Aachen University, Aachen, Germany

4. Ju Wang

   Tianjin Medical University

   Affiliation as printed

   School of Biomedical Engineering, Tianjin Medical University, Tianjin, China

5. Weili Xu

   Stockholm University · Karolinska Institutet

   Affiliation as printed

   Aging Research Center, Department of Neurobiology, Health Care Sciences and Society Karolinska Institutet and Stockholm University, Stockholm, Sweden

6. Yaogang Wang corresponding

   Tianjin University of Traditional Chinese Medicine · Tianjin Medical University

   Affiliation as printed

   School of Integrative Medicine, Public Health Science and Engineering College, Tianjin University of Traditional Chinese Medicine, Tianjin, China

   School of Public Health, Tianjin Medical University, Tianjin, China