A clinical research of 11cases of human umbilical cord mesenchymal stem cells for curing senile vascular dementia.

BACKGROUND: Patients affected by senile vascular dementia (VaD) suffer from a gradual deterioration in their cognitive expressions as well as the ability of taking care for themselves. This study aimed to investigate the clinical efficacy and safety of improving cognitive function and daily life activities of patients with VaD by transplanting human umbilical cord mesenchymal stem cells (HUCMSCs). METHODS: A total number of 11 patients with senile VaD, who were admitted through outpatient treatment and hospitalized between February 2013 and February 2016, were selected. The diagnosis was based on CT and MRI examinations. The cultivated HUCMSCs (106 /kg) were injected by intravenous (i.v.) infusion on three occasions. Patients were evaluated for the Mini-Mental State Examination (MMSE) with 25-30 as normal, 21-24 as mild dementia, 10-20 as moderate dementia, and 0-9 as severe dementia. In addition, the Barthel index (BI) was used for a standardized activities of daily living (ADLs) with 0-20 as total dependence, 21-60 as severe dependence, 61-90 as moderate dependence, and 91-95 slight dependence. The t-test was performed to compare statistical significance. RESULTS: The study included 11 subjects, one of whom fell out due to an event unrelated to the study. The results show descriptive statistics at different time points. No matter MMSE score or Barthel index, the difference between before treatment and after treatment or follow-up was statistically significant (P < 0.001).Result interpretation: this intervention method has a significant therapeutic effect, and in the 3-month follow-up period, the intervention effect is still significant compared with that before treatment. CONCLUSIONS: Our preliminary clinical observations suggest that the i.v. infusion of HUCMSCs significantly improved the cognitive function (MMSE) and daily life activities (BI) of patients with senile VaD. This approach may prove to be safe and relatively simple method to be applied for the treatment of senile VaD.

The target sites and structural characteristic of bispecific antibodies in cancer therapy / 医学研究生学报

Bispecific antibodies, that are the second generation of new type of antibodies with two specific antigens or epitopes binding sites, can combine with target cells and effector cells (or molecules) at the same time. The recent studies demonstrated that Bispecific antibodies possess the immense therapeutic potential for cancer, ASID and autoimmune diseases. In this review, the various targets and function, the underlying mechanisms, and the application progress of Bispecific antibodies in cancer therapy were discussed.

Analysis on molecular characteristic of VP7 and NSP4 / 中华流行病学杂志

<p><b>OBJECTIVE</b>To explore the molecular characteristics and molecular variation of human rotavirus (HRV) strains and to understand the relationship between clinical characteristics and epidemiology of different HRV-VP7 and NSP4.</p><p><b>METHODS</b>Double-strand RNA of rotavirus extracted from stool samples was used as the template for reverse transcription of gene VP7, which was followed by nested PCR for VP7 typing. NSP4 genes from 22 epidemic strains of human rotavirus isolated in Kunming in 2002 and 2003 were amplified with RT-PCR. Then cDNAs were sequenced and compared with 4 human rotavirus NSP4 (Wa, KUN, AU-1, Hochi)) and 3 animal rotavirus NSP4 (EW, OSU, SA11) available in the GenBank while the epidemic strains of human rotavirus isolated in different areas of China were compared, using the Clustal-mp, DNAssist, MEGA2 software. The G serotype of VP7 was analysed by PCR.</p><p><b>RESULTS</b>Serotype G1 was prevalent in 2002 while serotype G3 was the prevalent in Kumming in 2003. The NSP4 genes from 22 epidemic strains of human rotavirus isolated in Kunming in 2002 and 2003 belonged to Wa with highly conservative amino acid. Samples isolated in the same years but not in the same area shared higher homology. Symptoms associated with heavy diarrhea did not seem to be associated with NSP4 molecular variation (P > 0.05).</p><p><b>CONCLUSION</b>Obvious variations of VP7 typing were seen in the same season, as well as in different areas and years. Due to the stable nature of NSP4, it seem to be a better candidate for vaccine production, than VP7.</p>