Administration of human umbilical cord blood cells delays the onset of prostate cancer and increases the lifespan of the TRAMP mouse

• Published in: Cancer letters 2006-01, Vol.231 (1), p.123-128
• Main Authors: Ende, Norman, Chen, Ruifeng, Reddi, Alluru S.
• Format: Article
• Language: English
• Subjects: Abdomen; Animals; Bone marrow; Cord Blood Stem Cell Transplantation; Human umbilical cord blood cells; Infusions, Intravenous; Male; Mice; Mice, Transgenic; Prostate cancer; Prostatic Neoplasms - pathology; Prostatic Neoplasms - prevention & control; Stem cell therapy; Stem cells; Survival Analysis; TRAMP mice; Transplants & implants
• ISSN: 0304-3835; 1872-7980
• DOI: 10.1016/j.canlet.2005.01.030

Stem cell transplantation to improve the onset and survival of animals or humans with prostate cancer has not been studied adequately. In this study, we examined whether intravenous administration of human umbilical cord blood (HUCB) mononuclear cells into TRAMP (transgenic adenocarcinoma of the mouse prostate) mice can delay the onset of prostate cancer and improve survival of these mice before and after the development of cancer. Twenty TRAMP mice were randomly divided into 2 groups. One group of 10 mice received 200×10 6 HUCB mononuclear cells retro-orbitally into the venous plexus at the age of 6 weeks. Another group of 10 mice did not receive HUCB cells and served as control mice. The presence of tumor was detected by abdominal palpation, which was confirmed by biopsy. When 4 of the 10 control mice developed the tumor, they were treated with the same dose of HUCB cells. Either at the time of death or sacrifice, various tissues were examined for the presence of HUCB cell total RNA by reverse transcriptase PCR. Also, the tissues were examined histologically for the presence of metastasis and carcinoma. Kaplan–Meier survival plots were used to assess the lifespan of the mice. The data show that the control mice developed the tumor much earlier than the treated mice (control vs treated: 238±38 vs 311±40 days; P