Effect of Acupuncture on Tear Proteomics in Patients with Video Display Terminal-Related Dry Eye

Acupuncture is widely used to treat dry eye disease (DED),
but
its effect has not been reported in treating video display terminal
(VDT)-related dry eye, and the mechanism of acupuncture on VDT-related
dry eye is also unknown. In our study, the tear proteome was compared
with identifying possible mechanisms and biomarkers for predicting
acupuncture effectiveness in VDT-related dry eye. The results showed
that the ocular surface disease index scores were significantly different
between the acupuncture group (AC group) and artificial tears group
(AT group) at the end of the study, whereas tear film breakup time
(TFBUT) and Schirmer I test (SIT) were not significantly different
between the groups. Proteome changes pre- and post-treatment in the
AC group were associated with B cell-related immune processes, inflammation,
glycolysis, and actin cytoskeleton. Furthermore, the proteins hexosaminidase
A and mannose-binding lectin 1 could prospectively predict whether
acupuncture treatment was effective. Therefore, we believe that acupuncture
can provide greater improvement in the clinical symptoms of VDT-related
dry eye than artificial tears. The mechanism of acupuncture in VDT-related
dry eye treatment may be associated with glycolysis- and actin cytoskeleton
remodeling-mediated inflammatory and immune processes. Additionally,
hexosaminidase A and mannose-binding lectin 1 are biomarkers for predicting
the efficacy of acupuncture for VDT-related dry eye.