Targeted Eradication of Prostate Cancer Mediated by Engineered Mesenchymal Stem Cells

摘要

Prostate cancer is the second leading cause of cancer death among men in North America mostly due to a high incidence of cancer cell spreading to bones (metastasis) which is incurable by any currently used regimens. Our long- range goal is to develop an innovative non-invasive approach to reach those metastatic prostate cancer cells via tumor interacting stromal cells and eliminate them on-site through cytotoxic gene delivery. This will be achieved by using engineered mesenchymal stem cells (MSC) as a gene delivery vehicle to reach tumor cells as they tend to serve as stroma bed for tumor growth. We have constructed therapeutic gene delivery vectors (plasmid DNA) and engineered human MSC with the some of the vectors. We also inoculated those engineered MSC together with human prostate cancer cells into immune incompetent mice to examine their interaction and supportive role for the growth of prostate cancer before the initiation of therapeutic treatment. Unfortunately these on-going experiments were interrupted at this stage by the landfall of Hurricane Katrina. Furthermore with closure of our research facility and loss of lab personnel on this project this project is considerably behind our proposed schedule. As LSUHSO reopens and the approval on extension of this project we believe that we will be able to catch up with our proposed study and draw significant insights during the next 10-12 months.