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Clinically applicable human adipose tissue-derived mesenchymal stem cells delivering therapeutic genes to brainstem gliomas

Cancer Gene Therapy volume 22, pages 302–311 (2015)Cite this article

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Abstract

Pediatric brainstem glioma is an incurable malignancy because of its inoperability. As a result of their extensive tropism toward cancer and the possibility of autologous transplantation, human adipose-derived mesenchymal stem cells (hAT-MSC) are attractive vehicles to deliver therapeutic genes to brainstem gliomas. In this study, in a good manufacturing practice (GMP) facility, we established clinically applicable hAT-MSCs expressing therapeutic genes and investigated their therapeutic efficacy against brainstem glioma in mice. For feasible clinical applications, (1) primary hAT-MSCs were cultured from human subcutaneous fat to make autologous transplantation possible, (2) hAT-MSCs were genetically engineered to express carboxyl esterase (CE) and (3) a secreted form of the tumor necrosis factor-related apoptosis-inducing ligand (sTRAIL) expression vector for synergistic effects was delivered by a gene transfer technology that did not result in genomic integration of the vector. (4) Human CE and sTRAIL sequences were utilized to avoid immunological side effects. The hAT-MSCs expressing CE±sTRAIL showed significant therapeutic effects against brainstem gliomas in vitro and in vivo. However, the simultaneous expression of CE and sTRAIL had no synergistic effects in vivo. The results indicate that non-viral transient single sTRAIL gene transfer to autologous hAT-MSCs is a clinically applicable stem cell-based gene therapy for brainstem gliomas in terms of therapeutic effects and safety.

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Acknowledgements

This study was supported by a grant of the Korea Health technology R&D Project, Ministry of Health and Welfare, Republic of Korea (A120446) and by a grant no. 30-2014-0270 from the Seoul National University Hospital Research Fund.

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Author notes

  1. S A Choi and Y E Lee: These authors contributed equally to this work.

Authors and Affiliations

  1. Division of Pediatric Neurosurgery, Pediatric Clinical Neuroscience Center, Seoul National University Children’s Hospital, Seoul National University College of Medicine, Seoul, Republic of Korea,

    S A Choi, Y E Lee, P A Kwak, J Y Lee, J H Phi, K-C Wang & S-K Kim

  2. Adolescent Cancer Center, Seoul National University Cancer Hospital, Seoul, Republic of Korea,

    S A Choi, P A Kwak, J H Phi & S-K Kim

  3. Department of Health Sciences and Technology, SAIHST, Sungkyunkwan University, Seoul, Republic of Korea,

    Y E Lee, S S Kim & K M Joo

  4. Department of Anatomy, Seoul National University College of Medicine, Seoul, Republic of Korea,

    J Y Lee

  5. Department of Anatomy and Cell Biology, Sungkyunkwan University, School of Medicine, Suwon, Republic of Korea,

    S J Lee & K M Joo

  6. Department of Laboratory Medicine, Seoul National University Bundang Hospital, Seongnam, Republic of Korea,

    J Song

  7. Department of Laboratory Medicine, Seoul National University Hospital, Seoul, Republic of Korea,

    S H Song

  8. Samsung Biomedical Research Institute, Samsung Medical Center, Seoul, Republic of Korea,

    K M Joo

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  1. S A Choi
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Correspondence to K M Joo or S-K Kim.

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Choi, S., Lee, Y., Kwak, P. et al. Clinically applicable human adipose tissue-derived mesenchymal stem cells delivering therapeutic genes to brainstem gliomas. Cancer Gene Ther 22, 302–311 (2015). https://doi.org/10.1038/cgt.2015.25

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