Stem Cell Therapy Effective In Targeting Metastatic Cancer
Dec 24, 2006 - 7:44:42 AM
, Reviewed by: Sanjukta Acharya
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This approach could significantly improve future treatment options for
patients with metastatic cancer, said Karen Aboody, M.D., assistant
professor of Hematology/Hematopoietic Cell Transplantation and
Neurosciences at City of Hope. It not only has the potential to destroy
residual tumor cells, but it should also improve patients quality of
life by minimizing toxic side effects such as nausea, diarrhea or bone
marrow suppression.
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By PLoS ONE,
[RxPG] Patients with advanced cancer that has spread to many
different sites often do not have many treatment options, since they would be unable to tolerate the doses of treatment they would need to kill the tumors.
Researchers at City of Hope and St. Jude Childrens Research Hospital may have found a way to treat cancers that have spread throughout the body more effectively. They used modified neural stem cells to activate and
concentrate chemotherapeutic drugs predominately at tumor sites, so that normal tissue surrounding the tumor and throughout the body remain relatively unharmed.
This approach could significantly improve future treatment options for patients with metastatic cancer, said Karen Aboody, M.D., assistant professor of Hematology/Hematopoietic Cell Transplantation and Neurosciences at City of Hope. It not only has the potential to destroy residual tumor cells, but it should also improve patients quality of
life by minimizing toxic side effects such as nausea, diarrhea or bone marrow suppression.
Aboody is the lead investigator of the study done in collaboration with
senior investigator Mary Danks, Ph.D., associate member of Molecular
Pharmacology at St. Jude Childrens Research Hospital in Memphis, Tenn.
The study will be published Dec. 20 in PLoS ONE. A second paper with
extended results from the study has been accepted for publication in Cancer
Research in January.
Most chemotherapy drugs affect both normal and cancerous tissue, which is
why they also are toxic to naturally fast-growing cells in the body such as
hair follicles and intestinal cells. Aboody and her colleagues have
developed a two-part system to infiltrate metastatic tumor sites, and then
activate a chemotherapeutic drug, thereby localizing the drugs effects
to the tumor cells.
The technique takes advantage of the tendency for invasive tumors to
attract neural stem cells. The researchers injected modified neural
stem/progenitor cells into immunosuppressed mice that had been given
neuroblastoma cells, which then formed tumors. After waiting a few days to
allow the stem cells to migrate to the tumors, researchers administered a
precursor-drug. When it reached the stem cells, the drug interacted with
an enzyme the stem cells expressed, and was converted into an active drug
that kills surrounding tumor cells. The precursor-drugs were administered
for two weeks, then after a two-week break, a second round of
stem/progenitor cells and drugs were administered.
One hundred percent of the neuroblastoma mice appeared healthy and
tumor-free at six months. Without treatment, all the neuroblastoma mice
died within two-and-a-half months.
The results hold promise for treating solid tumors that metastasize
including neuroblastoma, which represents 6 percent to 10 percent of all
childhood cancers worldwide, with higher proportions in children under 2
years of age.
The results are especially important in the case of high-risk
neuroblastoma, because treatment-resistant cancer returns in as many as 80
percent of children, and the majority die of their disease, said
co-principal investigator Danks.
Aboody and her colleagues had previously published the efficacy of this
technique in primary and metastatic tumors in the brain. This is the first
research to demonstrate that it is also effective in a metastatic cancer
model, targeting multiple solid tumor sites spread throughout the body.
They speculate that the technique could also be applied to other malignant
solid tumors, including colon, brain, prostate and breast cancer, and are
planning future preclinical trials using those tumors as well.
Funding information and declaration of competing interests:
The research was funded by grants from the National Cancer Institute, Stop
Cancer Foundation, Phi Beta Psi Sorority, the Rosalinde and Arthur Gilbert
Foundation, the Neidorf Family Foundation, the Marcus Foundation and ALSAC.
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Additional information about the news article
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City of Hope is a leading research and treatment center for cancer,
diabetes and other life-threatening diseases. Designated as a Comprehensive
Cancer Center, the highest honor bestowed by the National Cancer Institute,
and a founding member of the National Comprehensive Cancer Network, City of
Hope's research and treatment protocols impact care throughout the nation.
Founded in 1913, City of Hope is a pioneer in the fields of bone marrow
transplantation and genetics and shares its scientific knowledge with
medical centers locally and globally, helping patients battling serious
diseases.
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