Acupuncture Study on Rheumatoid Arthritis, Monitoring Microbiome and Blood

Summary

Acupuncture is used and recommended by the WHO for the treatment of Rheumatoid Arthritis.

The molecular bases of this recommendation are not known, the investigators want to compare with the usage of high-throughput molecular technologies the variations occurring in patients treated with acupuncture and conventional treatment with the ones treated with conventional treatment only. The investigators observe the variations in blood and in the gut microbiome.

Conditions

• Rheumatoid Arthritis

Interventions

DRUG

methotrexate

methotrexate: 7.5mg/week to 15mg/week for 3 months

DRUG

non-steroidal anti-inflammatory drug (NSAID)

NSAID: 100mg twice a day for 3 months

DRUG

leflunomide

leflunomide: 20mg/day for 3 months

DRUG

methotrexate

methotrexate: 7.5mg/week to 15mg/week for 3 months

DRUG

non-steroidal anti-inflammatory drug (NSAID)

NSAID: 100mg twice a day for 3 months

DRUG

leflunomide

leflunomide: 20mg/day for 3 months

PROCEDURE

Acupuncture

30 minutes acupuncture every other day for 3 months. Basic acupoints: Zusanli, st36; Taixi，KI3）; Shenxu, BL23 Additional acupoints due to personal condition: Waiguan，SJ5; Baxie，Ex-UE9;Yinlingquan，(SP9）; Quchi，LI11; Yanglingquan，GB34; Xuehai，SP10; Dazhu，BL11; Dazhui，DU14; Pixu，BL20.

Sponsors & Collaborators

• Shanghai Guanghua Hospital of Integrated Traditional Chinese and Western Medicine

  collaborator OTHER

• Chinese Academy of Sciences

  lead OTHER_GOV

Principal Investigators

• Christine Nardini, PhD · Key laboratory of Computational Biology,Chines Academy of Sciences-Max Planck Institute-CAS MPG PICB

• Christine Nardini, PhD · Consiglio Nazionale delle Ricerche Istituto per le Applicazioni del Calcolo "Mauro Picone"

• Yuanhua Liu · Shanghai Institute of Biochemistry and Cell Biology, CAS, Shanghai, PRC

• Yongying Liang · Guanghua Hospital, Shanghai, PRC

• Xiaoyuan Zhou · Group of Clinical Genomic Networks, Shanghai Institutes for Biological Sciences, CAS-MPG, China

• Jennifer E. Dent · Group of Clinical Genomic Networks, Shanghai Institutes for Biological Sciences, CAS-MPG, China

• Ting Jiang · Department of Neurology, University of California, San Francisco, USA

• Ding Qin · Guanghua Hospital, Shanghai, PRC

• Youtao Lu · Group of Clinical Genomic Networks, Shanghai Institutes for Biological Sciences, CAS-MPG, China

• Dongyi He · Guanghua Hospital, Shanghai, PRC

Study Design

Allocation

NON_RANDOMIZED

Purpose

BASIC_SCIENCE

Masking

NONE

Model

SINGLE_GROUP

Eligibility

Min Age

18 Years

Max Age

65 Years

Sex

FEMALE

Healthy Volunteers

Yes

Timeline & Regulatory

Start

2012-10-31

Primary Completion

2014-12-31

Completion

2014-12-31

Countries

• China

Study Locations