Identification of Potential Hub Genes for Acupuncture in Treatment with Chronic Obstructive Pulmonary Disease via Integrated Bioinformatics Analysis

<bold>Background:</bold> Numerous clinical studies have shown that acupuncture has beneficial effect in treatment of Chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD), but the mechanism remains unclear. <bold>Objectives:</bold> To explore the key differentially expressed genes (DGEs) and the potential molecular mechanism of acupuncture on COPD. <bold>Methods:</bold> A model of COPD in rat was established through exposure to cigarette smoke combined with bacterial infection. GV14, BL13 and BL23 were selected as the acupuncture point locations. Pulmonary function and pathology were detected to evaluate the effect of acupuncture. Transcriptomics was used to screen for DGEs, and RT-qPCR was used for in vivo validation. <bold>Results:</bold> The lung function and pathological injuries of COPD rats were improved after acupuncture treatment. Compared with COPD rats, 1156 DGEs reversed after acupuncture treatment. With Gene Ontology (GO) and Kyoto Encyclopedia of Genes and Genomes (KEGG) pathway enrichment, we found that the acupuncture therapy for COPD may be related to inflammation, Jak-SATA or TGF-β signal pathways. Furthermore, Gene Expression Omnibus (GEO) database to identify DGEs between COPD and normal individuals, after overlapping with DEGs of COPD rats, a total of 12 consistent genes were identified. RT-qPCR confirmed that <italic>Col4a3</italic>, <italic>Ppp1r26</italic>, <italic>Lama5</italic>, <italic>Klhl23</italic>, <italic>Reep1</italic>, <italic>Tnfrsf9</italic>, <italic>Il2ra</italic>, <italic>Mthfd2</italic>, and <italic>Osm</italic> were reversed after acupuncture treatment. <bold>Conclusions:</bold> <italic>Col4a3</italic>, <italic>Ppp1r26</italic>, <italic>Lama5</italic>, <italic>Klhl23</italic>, <italic>Reep1</italic>, <italic>Tnfrsf9</italic>, <italic>Il2ra</italic>, <italic>Mthfd2</italic>, and <italic>Osm</italic> were the potential hub genes for acupuncture intervention in COPD. Acupuncture may improve COPD inflammatory response or neuronal activity by regulating the nine genes.