The serological response in dogs inoculated with canine distemper virus vaccine at the acupuncture point governing vessel-14: A randomized controlled trial

• Published in: Vaccine 2019-03, Vol.37 (13), p.1889-1896
• Main Authors: Perdrizet, John A, Shiau, Deng-Shan, Xie, Huisheng
• Format: Article
• Language: English
• Subjects: Acupuncture; Adenoviruses; Animals; Antigen presentation; Canine distemper; Canine distemper virus vaccine; Chronic illnesses; Clinical trials; Conflicts of interest; Disease prevention; Dogs; Drug dosages; Herbal medicine; Hypotheses; Immune response; Immune response (humoral); Immune system; Immunity; Immunomodulation; Infectious diseases; Neutralization; Outliers (statistics); Pathogens; Randomization; Randomized controlled trial; Serum Neutralization (SN) titers; Traditional Chinese medicine; Vaccination; Vaccines; Veterinary medicine; Viruses; Weight
• ISSN: 0264-410X; 1873-2518
• DOI: 10.1016/j.vaccine.2018.10.076

•CDV vaccination increased humoral antibody response in healthy adult dogs.•Vaccination at acupoint GV-14 had greater response than the conventional route.•Vaccination at acupuncture points has potential for enhanced vaccine response. The improvement of immunity to vaccination has historically focused on manipulation of antigen presentation rather than the host. Immune modulation by stimulating specific acupuncture points along the Meridian System has been practiced in Traditional Chinese Medicine. The purpose of this study was to quantitatively determine whether acupoint vaccination, in which vaccine is administered at an acupuncture point in dogs, has the potential to enhance the immune response. A randomized controlled trial was conducted to compare the effectiveness of acupoint vaccination versus a conventional method, based on humoral immune response in dogs given Canine Distemper Vaccine (CDV). One hundred client-owned dogs were admitted to the study with following characteristics: (1) passed a routine physical exam, (2) aged between 1 and 10 years old, (3) had no history of chronic disease, and (4) were not on immunomodulating medications. Dogs were randomly assigned to either the Acupuncture group inoculated at the acupoint Governing Vessel (GV)-14, or to the Control group inoculated conventionally at a non-acupuncture site. Mean changes from Day0 to Day14 of the response to CDV vaccination, measured by serum neutralization (SN) titers with log-transformation for reducing outlier effects, were compared between groups. No significant difference was found between groups in age, weight, or sex (all p >0.2). Both groups had significant increases of CDV SN titer post-vaccination (p