NEW YORK (Reuters Health) May 19 - Mesenchymal stem cells engineered to express TNF-related apoptosis-inducing ligand (TRAIL) can target and destroy lung metastases from breast cancer, according to study findings presented Tuesday at the 105th International Conference of the American Thoracic Society in San Diego, California.
"TRAIL has been studied as a cancer treatment and is being used in clinical trials, and mesenchymal stem cells are known to home to tumors and other groups are using this to deliver anticancer agents. This is the first study to combine these two exciting areas to provide a directed cancer therapy with the ability to eliminate multiple secondary tumors," lead author Dr. Michael Loebinger told Reuters Health.
In the study, Dr. Loebinger, along with Dr. S. M. Janes, both from University College of London, showed that TRAIL-expressing stem cells could destroy lung, squamous, breast, and cervical cancer cells in vitro, even when the number of tumor cells greatly exceeded that of the stem cells.
Testing in murine models of breast cancer, the researchers found that treatment with the stem cells could cut the growth of subcutaneous tumors by about 80% (p <>
Treatment with the TRAIL-expressing cells also helped reduce lung metastases from breast cancer and in 38% of mice, the metastases were eliminated all together.
As for future research, Dr. Loebinger said that "there are still some unanswered questions such as the cause of the homing, the effects of the stem cells themselves on the cancers, and the optimum timing and dosage, and work is continuing on this." However, he added, "the therapy does have potential for translation into human use and we are also planning at looking at possible future clinical trials starting with in-depth human safety studies."
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