Effect of ginseng polysaccharides and dendritic cells on the balance of Th1/Th2 T helper cells in patients with non-small cell lung cancer

OBJECTIVE: To investigate the effect of thorascopic administration of ginseng polysaccharides(GPS)plus dendritic cells(DC) on T helper cell type 1/T helper cell type 2(Th1/Th2) balance in patients with non-small cell lung cancer(NSCLC).METHODS: A total of 96 NSCLC patients were divided evenly into two groups. The control group was treated with DCs alone and the treatment group was treated with DCs plus GPS. After DCs and GPS were administered thoracoscopically, once a week,4 times for 30 days, the patients' quality of life was measured with the Functional Assessment of Can-cer Treatment-Lung(FACT-L) questionnaire before and after treatment. Serum interferon-γ(INF-γ), interleukin-4(IL-4), IL-2 and IL-5 were examined before and after treatments.RESULTS: The level of Th1 cytokines(INF-γ, IL-2)and the ratio of Th1/Th2 cytokines(INF-γ/IL-4, IL-2/IL-5) increased in both treatment groups, while Th2cytokines(IL-4, IL-5) and FACT-L scores decreased(P<0.01). Furthermore, after treatment Th1 cytokines(INF-γ, IL-2) and the ratio of Th1/Th2 cytokines(INF-γ/IL-4, IL-2/IL-5) were higher in the DCs +GPS group than in the control group(P<0.05). Conversely, FACT-L scores and Th2 cytokines(IL-4, IL-5)were higher in the control group than in the DCs +GPS group(P<0.05).CONCLUSION: The treatment regime of DCs plus GPS had a greater effect on NSCLC patients' immune function as compared with DCs alone. This was evident by increased expression of Th1 cytokines(INF-γ, IL-2) and the ratio of Th1/Th2(INF-γ/IL-4, IL-2/IL-5), as well as by decreased FACT-L scores and the expression of Th2 cytokines(IL-4,IL-5).

Anti-depression effects of electroacupuncture through up-regulating serum E_2 and BDNF and expression of BDNF in hippocampus in chronic depression rats

Objective：To investigate the effects of electroacupuncture （EA） at acupoints Baihui （GV 20）, Neiguan （PC 6） and Sanyinjiao （SP 6） on the levels of estradiol （E2） and brain-derived neurotrophic factor （BDNF） in serum, as well as the expression of BDNF in hippocampus in chronic depression rat models. Methods：Thirty female Wistar rats were randomly divided into three groups, including a normal control （NC） group, a model group and an EA group, 10 rats in each group. The depression model was established by using chronic unpredicted mild stress （CUMS）, such as cold-water swimming, tail clamping, electric shock to foot, etc., combined with individual caging for 21 d. Rats in the model group and EA group were randomly exposed to one of the 9 stressors each day and caged individually. After modeling, rats in the EA group were then treated with EA at Baihui （GV 20）, Neiguan （PC 6） and Sanyinjiao （SP 6） once daily for 14 d, and the model group was not treated with EA but bounded in the same way as the EA group. Serum E2 was measured by radioimmunoassay and BDNF was assessed by an enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay （ELISA） and the expression of BDNF in hippocampus was detected by using immunohistochemistry. Results：After the stress stimulation, compared with the NC group, the model group and EA group showed a significant reduction of sucrose preference rate （P〈0.01） and remarkable increase of forced-swimming immobility time （P〈0.01）. In addition, EA significantly reduced the depression-like behavior of rats in the EA group （P〈0.01）. The expressions of E2 and BDNF in serum as well as the expression of BDNF in hippocampus were remarkably lower in the model rats than those in the NC group （P〈0.01,P〈0.01,P〈0.05）. The expression of BDNF in rats’ serum and hippocampus in the EA group was significantly higher than that in the model group （P〈0.05）, while serum E2 increased but insignificantly （P〉0.05）. Conclusion：E2 and BDNF may contribute to the depression-like behaviors of the rats during CUMS period. EA may exert its anti-depression effects through promoting BDNF expression in serum and hippocampus.

Pinching Spine:A Potential Treatment for Depression

Objective： To investigate whether pinching spine （PS, i.e.捏脊, a traditional Chinese manipulativetherapy） is beneficial to ameliorating the depressive state （including behavioral deficit, retardative weight gainand decreased sucrose consumption） in a rat model of depression induced by chronic unpredictable stress （CUS）and to explore the candidate mechanism of action. Methods： PS was performed on rats＇ spine once daily for 1week after exposure to CUS. The open-field test, body weight measuring, and sucrose intake test were appliedon different dates： before stress （dO）, at the end of stress （d21） and after PS treatment （d28）, respectively. Thenthe rats＇ hippocampuses were performed genome-wide microarray analysis, and the expression levels of severalgenes were evaluated by real-time polymerase chain reaction （PCR）. Results： Exposure to CUS resulted indecreases of behavioral activity and sucrose consumption, which were reversed significantly after PS treatment.The expression of several genes relevant to energy metabolism, anti-oxidation, and olfactory receptor, etc., weredown-regulated, while the expression of those relevant to hemostasis, immunity-inflammation, and restrictionof activities and ingestion, etc., were up-regulated in hippocampuses of rats exposed to CUS. PS treatmentsignificantly inverted these changes. Furthermore, increase or decrease in gone expression evaluated by real-time PCR was concordant with up-regulated or down-regulated expression evaluated by microarray analysis.Conclusion： PS showed a potential antidepressant-like effect, of which the action mechanism might be due togone expression regulation in hippocampus.