SYSTEMATIC REVIEW article
Front. Immunol.
Sec. Cancer Immunity and Immunotherapy
Effects of moxibustion therapies on immune function in cancer animal models: A systematic review and meta-analysis
Xinyue Liang
Yu Ma
Xiaoqi Zhang
Mai Zhang
Lijia Pan
Hebei University of Chinese Medicine, Shijiazhuang, China
Select one of your emails
You have multiple emails registered with Frontiers:
Notify me on publication
Please enter your email address:
If you already have an account, please login
You don't have a Frontiers account ? You can register here
Abstract
Background: Moxibustion is a key component of traditional Chinese medicine and is widely employed in clinical practice as an adjunctive therapy for cancer. Preclinical studies have demonstrated that moxibustion can modulate host immune function, improve the tumor immune microenvironment, and suppress tumor growth. This study aims to evaluate the effects of moxibustion on immune function in animal models of cancer. Methods: A systematic literature search was conducted to identify all animal studies on moxibustion therapy for cancer in English-language databases (PubMed, Cochrane Library, Embase, and Web of Science) and Chinese-language databases (CNKI, Wanfang, CBM, and VIP). Data extraction was performed independently by two reviewers. Statistical analyses were carried out using RevMan 5.4 software. Potential publication bias was assessed using Egger's test and funnel plots. Results: The initial literature search identified a total of 2,537 potentially relevant studies, of which 48 met the predefined inclusion criteria. Meta-analysis revealed that moxibustion therapy significantly inhibited tumor growth in animal models. Compared with the control group, moxibustion was associated with a significant reduction in tumor volume (SMD = -1.79; 95% CI [-2.59, -0.99]; P < 0.0001) and tumor weight (SMD = -1.48; 95% CI [-1.88, -1.08]; P < 0.00001). The spleen index was elevated (SMD = 0.69; 95% CI [0.08, 1.29]; P = 0.03), IL-2 levels were increased (SMD = 1.71; 95% CI [0.88, 2.55]; P < 0.0001), IFN-γ levels were elevated (SMD = 1.14; 95% CI [0.72, 1.56]; P < 0.00001), while IL-6 levels showed a decreasing trend (SMD = -0.73; 95% CI [-2.42, 0.96]; P = 0.40), and TNF-α levels were elevated (SMD = 0.24; 95% CI [-0.81, 1.28]; P = 0.66). Conclusion: Although this study has certain limitations, the findings indicate that moxibustion therapy exerts an inhibitory effect on tumor growth in animal models of nine cancer types, including hepatocellular carcinoma, lung cancer, gastric cancer, sarcoma, breast cancer, colon cancer, rectal cancer, lymphoma, and colorectal cancer. Moxibustion also increases the spleen index, elevates levels of anti-tumor immune cytokines such as IL-2, IFN-γ , and TNF-α , suppresses the pro-inflammatory cytokine IL-6, and enhances host immune function.
Summary
Keywords
Animal Models, Cancer, Immunity, Meta-analysis, Moxibustion
Received
14 October 2025
Accepted
20 February 2026
Copyright
© 2026 Liang, Ma, Zhang, Zhang and Pan. This is an open-access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License (CC BY). The use, distribution or reproduction in other forums is permitted, provided the original author(s) or licensor are credited and that the original publication in this journal is cited, in accordance with accepted academic practice. No use, distribution or reproduction is permitted which does not comply with these terms.
*Correspondence: Lijia Pan
Disclaimer
All claims expressed in this article are solely those of the authors and do not necessarily represent those of their affiliated organizations, or those of the publisher, the editors and the reviewers. Any product that may be evaluated in this article or claim that may be made by its manufacturer is not guaranteed or endorsed by the publisher.