
Development of next-generation tumor-homing induced neural stem cells to enhance treatment of metastatic cancers
Author(s) -
Wulin Jiang,
Yuchen Yang,
Alison MercerSmith,
Alain Valdivia,
Juli R. Bagó,
Alex S. Woodell,
Andrew Buckley,
Michael H. Marand,
Qian Li,
Carey K. Anders,
Shawn Hingtgen
Publication year - 2021
Publication title -
science advances
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 5.928
H-Index - 146
ISSN - 2375-2548
DOI - 10.1126/sciadv.abf1526
Subject(s) - homing (biology) , neural stem cell , stem cell , cancer stem cell , cancer research , breast cancer , medicine , metastatic breast cancer , oncology , cancer , biology , ecology , genetics
Engineered tumor-homing neural stem cells (NSCs) have shown promise in treating cancer. Recently, we transdifferentiated skin fibroblasts into human-induced NSCs (hiNSC) as personalized NSC drug carriers. Here, using a SOX2 and spheroidal culture-based reprogramming strategy, we generated a new hiNSC variant, hiNeuroS, that was genetically distinct from fibroblasts and first-generation hiNSCs and had significantly enhanced tumor-homing and antitumor properties. In vitro, hiNeuroSs demonstrated superior migration to human triple-negative breast cancer (TNBC) cells and in vivo rapidly homed to TNBC tumor foci following intracerebroventricular (ICV) infusion. In TNBC parenchymal metastasis models, ICV infusion of hiNeuroSs secreting the proapoptotic agent TRAIL (hiNeuroS-TRAIL) significantly reduced tumor burden and extended median survival. In models of TNBC leptomeningeal carcinomatosis, ICV dosing of hiNeuroS-TRAIL therapy significantly delayed the onset of tumor formation and extended survival when administered as a prophylactic treatment, as well as reduced tumor volume while prolonging survival when delivered as established tumor therapy.