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Tumor cells as cellular vehicles to deliver gene therapies to metastatic tumors

Cancer Gene Therapy volume 12, pages 341–349 (2005)Cite this article

Abstract

A long-pursued goal in cancer treatment is to deliver a therapy specifically to metastases. As a result of the disseminated nature of the metastatic disease, carrying the therapeutic agent to the sites of tumor growth represents a major step for success. We hypothesized that tumor cells injected intravenously (i.v.) into an animal with metastases would respond to many of the factors driving the metastatic process, and would target metastases. Using a model of spontaneous metastases, we report here that i.v. injected tumor cells localized on metastatic lesions. Based on this fact, we used genetically transduced tumor cells for tumor targeting of anticancer agents such as a suicide gene or an oncolytic virus, with evident antitumoral effect and negligible systemic toxicity. Therefore, autologous tumor cells may be used as cellular vehicles for systemic delivery of anticancer therapies to metastatic tumors.

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Acknowledgements

We thank Isabel de los Santos, Pilar Hernández and Sergio García for technical assistance, and Dr José M. Martínez for his help with analyzing image files. This work was supported in part by Fundación Leucemia Linfoma (MR) and Fundación Oncohematología Infantil (JGC, LM and MR).

Author information

Author notes

  1. Javier García-Castro

    Present address: Servicio de Oncología, Hospital Niño Jesús, Madrid

Authors and Affiliations

  1. Unidad de Hematopoyesis y Terapia Génica, CIEMAT/Fundación Marcelino Botín, Madrid, Spain

    Javier García-Castro, Jesús Martínez-Palacio & Juan A Bueren

  2. Centro de Transfusión, Madrid, Spain

    Rosa Lillo & Félix García-Sánchez

  3. Institut Català d'Oncología, Barcelona, Spain

    Ramón Alemany

  4. Oncología Pediátrica, Hospital Universitario Niño Jesús, Madrid, Spain

    Luis Madero & Manuel Ramírez

Authors
  1. Javier García-Castro
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  2. Jesús Martínez-Palacio
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  3. Rosa Lillo
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  4. Félix García-Sánchez
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  5. Ramón Alemany
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  6. Luis Madero
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  7. Juan A Bueren
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  8. Manuel Ramírez
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Corresponding author

Correspondence to Manuel Ramírez.

Additional information

Supplementary information accompanies the paper on Cancer Gene Therapy website (http://www.nature.com/cgt).

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García-Castro, J., Martínez-Palacio, J., Lillo, R. et al. Tumor cells as cellular vehicles to deliver gene therapies to metastatic tumors. Cancer Gene Ther 12, 341–349 (2005). https://doi.org/10.1038/sj.cgt.7700801

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