A pilot controlled trial of a combination of dense cranial electroacupuncture stimulation and body acupuncture for post-stroke depression

Our previous studies have demonstrated the treatment benefits of dense cranial electroacupuncture stimulation (DCEAS), a novel brain stimulation therapy in patients with major depression, postpartum depression and obsessive-compulsive disorder. The purpose of the present study was to further evaluate the effectiveness of DCEAS combined with body acupuncture and selective serotonin reuptake inhibitors (SSRIs) in patients with post-stroke depression (PSD).published_or_final_versio

Tailoring the homing capacity of human Tregs for directed migration to sites of Th1-inflammation or intestinal regions

Cell-based therapy with CD4+ FOXP3+ regulatory T cells (Tregs) is a promising strategy to limit organ rejection and graft-vs-host disease. Ongoing clinical applications have yet to consider how human Tregs could be modified to direct their migration to specific inflammation sites and/or tissues for more targeted immunosuppression. We show here that stable, homing-receptor-tailored human Tregs can be generated from thymic Tregs isolated from pediatric thymus or adult blood. To direct migration to Th1-inflammatory sites, addition of interferon-γ and IL-12 during Treg expansion produced suppressive, epigenetically stable CXCR3+ TBET+ FOXP3+ T helper (Th)1-Tregs. CXCR3 remained expressed after injection in vivo and Th1-Tregs migrated efficiently towards CXCL10 in vitro. To induce tissue-specific migration, addition of retinoic acid (RA) during Treg expansion induced expression of the gut-homing receptors α4β7-integrin and CCR9. FOXP3+ RA-Tregs had elevated expression of the functional markers latency-associated peptide and glycoprotein A repetitions predominant, increased suppressive capacity in vitro and migrated efficiently to healthy and inflamed intestine after injection into mice. Homing-receptor-tailored Tregs were epigenetically stable even after long-term exposure to inflammatory conditions, suppressive in vivo and characterized by Th1- or gut-homing-specific transcriptomes. Tailoring human thymic Treg homing during in vitro expansion offers a new and clinically applicable approach to improving the potency and specificity of Treg therapy