Neural stem cell therapy for cancer

•Engineered neural stem cells (NSCs) are a promising new approach to cancer therapy.•NSCs display unique tumor-homing properties that make them ideal drug delivery vehicles.•NSCs can be engineered to deliver a variety of therapeutic agents directly into local and invasive cancer foci.•Engineered NSC...

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Bibliographic Details
Published in:Methods (San Diego, Calif.) Calif.), 2016-04, Vol.99, p.37-43
Main Authors: Bagó, Juli Rodriguez, Sheets, Kevin T., Hingtgen, Shawn D.
Format: Article
Language:English
Subjects:
Animals
Cancer therapy
Cell Culture Techniques
Cell Engineering
Cell Movement
Cellular Reprogramming
Drug delivery
Gene therapy
Glioblastoma
Humans
Neoplasms - therapy
Neural stem cell
Neural Stem Cells - physiology
Neural Stem Cells - transplantation
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Summary:•Engineered neural stem cells (NSCs) are a promising new approach to cancer therapy.•NSCs display unique tumor-homing properties that make them ideal drug delivery vehicles.•NSCs can be engineered to deliver a variety of therapeutic agents directly into local and invasive cancer foci.•Engineered NSC therapy has achieved dramatic reductions in tumor volumes in preclinical testing.•NSC therapy has recently entered human patient trials. Cancers of the brain remain one of the greatest medical challenges. Traditional surgery and chemo-radiation therapy are unable to eradicate diffuse cancer cells and tumor recurrence is nearly inevitable. In contrast to traditional regenerative medicine applications, engineered neural stem cells (NSCs) are emerging as a promising new therapeutic strategy for cancer therapy. The tumor-homing properties allow NSCs to access both primary and invasive tumor foci, creating a novel delivery platform. NSCs engineered with a wide array of cytotoxic agents have been found to significantly reduce tumor volumes and markedly extend survival in preclinical models. With the recent launch of new clinical trials, the potential to successfully manage cancer in human patients with cytotoxic NSC therapy is moving closer to becoming a reality.
ISSN:1046-2023
1095-9130
DOI:10.1016/j.ymeth.2015.08.013