Cell-based therapies for stroke : promising solution or dead end?

The introduction of recanalization procedures has revolutionized acute stroke management, although the narrow time window, strict eligibility criteria and logistical limitations still exclude the majority of patients from treatment. In addition, residual deficits are present in many patients who undergo therapy, preventing their return to premorbid status. Hence, there is a strong need for novel, and ideally complementary, approaches to stroke management. In preclinical experiments, cell-based treatments have demonstrated beneficial effects in the subacute and chronic stages following stroke [1; 2; 3] and therefore are considered a promising option to supplement current clinical practice. At the same time, great progress has been made in developing clinically feasible delivery and monitoring protocols [4]. However, efficacy results initially reported in clinical studies fell short of expectations [5] raising concerns that cell treatment might eventually share the ‘dead end fate’ of many previous experimental stroke therapies. This Research Topic reviews some of the latest and most innovative studies to summarize the state of the art in translational cell treatments for stroke

CAR-T Cell-Based Immunotherapy

Immunotherapy has become a revolution in the area of cancer treatment. Compared to the traditional methods, such as invasive surgeries, radiation and chemotherapy, immunotherapy is more specific and less toxic to patients

CAR-T Cell-Based Immunotherapy

Over the past decade, great progress has been made in the field of immunotherapy, especially in the field of T cell therapy. Chimeric antigen receptor (CAR)-engineered T cell therapy is the most promising approach, which has shown remarkable ability in the elimination of a variety of tumors

Cell-based internal standard for qPCR determinations of antibiotic resistance indicators in environmental water samples

Quantitative PCR (qPCR) has been used to quantify antibiotic resistance genes (ARGs) in water, wastewater, soil, sediment and tissue samples. Concerns regarding the comparability of data obtained in different laboratories has been a major bottleneck to incentivize the compilation of publicly available of ARGs quantifications gathered from different reports. In this study, the influence of the DNA extraction kits (NZY Tissue gDNA Isolation kit or DNeasy PowerWater kit) and of the operator on the DNA extraction yield and on qPCR genes quantification was assessed. Since in wastewater and water samples the matrix effect can affect the DNA recovery and, therefore, gene quantification, an internal standard, consisting in a cloned gene not found in environmental samples, was tested. The aim was to assess how qPCR determinations in wastewater and water samples can be affected by the matrix effect. The results show that the DNA extraction operator did not significantly influence DNA yield. The use of distinct kits resulted in qPCR gene quantifications that did not differ in more than 1 log-unit mL−1. The matrix effect, assessed based on the use of an internal standard, was associated with an underestimation that ranged 0.1–0.9 log gene copy number mL−1 of sample, irrespective of the water type. The reliability on the use of a DNA extraction kit that costs about 3 times less than the most commonly used can be an incentive for the use of DNA based analyses of ARGs in environmental waters. Moreover, the fact that both the DNA extraction operator and the reduced matrix effect have little influence on the final results, are good news, encouraging the compilation of data produced in distinct laboratories. Nevertheless, harmonization efforts are still necessary to minimize bias that may be due associated with other conditions, such as equipment.info:eu-repo/semantics/publishedVersio

Mesenchymal stem cell-based therapy for ischemic stroke

Ischemic stroke represents a major, worldwide health burden with increasing incidence. Patients affected by ischemic strokes currently have few clinically approved treatment options available. Most currently approved treatments for ischemic stroke have narrow therapeutic windows, severely limiting the number of patients able to be treated. Mesenchymal stem cells represent a promising novel treatment for ischemic stroke. Numerous studies have demonstrated that mesenchymal stem cells functionally improve outcomes in rodent models of ischemic stroke. Recent studies have also shown that exosomes secreted by mesenchymal stem cells mediate much of this effect. In the present review, we summarize the current literature on the use of mesenchymal stem cells to treat ischemic stroke. Further studies investigating the mechanisms underlying mesenchymal stem cells tissue healing effects are warranted and would be of benefit to the field

Memory cell based on a φ\varphi Josephson junction

The $\varphi$ Josephson junction has a doubly degenerate ground state with the Josephson phases $\pm\varphi$. We demonstrate the use of such a $\varphi$ Josephson junction as a memory cell (classical bit), where writing is done by applying a magnetic field and reading by applying a bias current. In the "store" state, the junction does not require any bias or magnetic field, but just needs to stay cooled for permanent storage of the logical bit. Straightforward integration with Rapid Single Flux Quantum logic is possible.Comment: to be published in AP