Proof-of-concept study highlights new therapeutic use of engineered human stem cells
Harvard Stem Cell Institute scientists at Massachusetts General Hospital have devised a new way to use stem cells in the fight against brain cancer. A team led by neuroscientist Khalid Shah, MS, PhD, who recently demonstrated the value of stem cells loaded with cancer-killing herpes viruses, now has a way to genetically engineer stem cells so that they can produce and secrete tumor-killing toxins.
In the AlphaMed Press journal STEM CELLS, Shahs team shows how the toxin-secreting stem cells can be used to eradicate cancer cells remaining in mouse brains after their main tumor has been removed. The stem cells are placed at the site encapsulated in a biodegradable gel. This method solves the delivery issue that probably led to the failure of recent clinical trials aimed at delivering purified cancer-killing toxins into patients brains. Shah and his team are currently pursuing FDA approval to bring this and other stem cell approaches developed by them to clinical trials.
Cancer-killing toxins have been used with great success in a variety of blood cancers, but they dont work as well in solid tumors because the cancers arent as accessible and the toxins have a short half-life, said Shah, who directs theMolecular Neurotherapy and Imaging Lab atMassachusetts General Hospital and Harvard Medical School.
A few years ago we recognized that stem cells could be used to continuously deliver these therapeutic toxins to tumors in the brain, but first we needed to genetically engineer stem cells that could resist being killed themselves by the toxins, he said. Now, we have toxin-resistant stem cells that can make and release cancer-killing drugs.
Cytotoxins are deadly to all cells, but since the late 1990s, researchers have been able to tag toxins in such a way that they only enter cancer cells with specific surface molecules; making it possible to get a toxin into a cancer cell without posing a risk to normal cells. Once inside of a cell, the toxin disrupts the cells ability to make proteins and, within days, the cell starts to die.
Shahs stem cells escape this fate because they are made with a mutation that doesnt allow the toxin to act inside the cell. The toxin-resistant stem cells also have an extra bit of genetic code that allows them to make and secrete the toxins. Any cancer cells that these toxins encounter do not have this natural defense and therefore die. Shah and his team induced toxin resistance in human neural stem cells and subsequently engineered them to produce targeted toxins.
We tested these stem cells in a clinically relevant mouse model of brain cancer, where you resect the tumors and then implant the stem cells encapsulated in a gel into the resection cavity, Shah said. After doing all of the molecular analysis and imaging to track the inhibition of protein synthesis within brain tumors, we do see the toxins kill the cancer cells and eventually prolonging the survival in animal models of resected brain tumors.
Shah next plans to rationally combine the toxin-secreting stem cells with a number of different therapeutic stem cells developed by his team to further enhance their positive results in mouse models of glioblastoma, the most common brain tumor in human adults. Shah predicts that he will bring these therapies into clinical trials within the next five years.
This work was supported by theNational Institutes of Health and the James S. McDonnell Foundation.
Cited: Stuckey, D. W. et al. Engineering toxin-resistant therapeutic stem cells to treat brain tumors. STEM CELLS. October 24, 2014. DOI: 10.1002/stem.1874
Link:
Scientists engineer toxin-secreting stem cells to treat ...
- Heres How Fasting Benefits Your Mental and Physical Wellbeing - News18 - October 4th, 2022
- Asymmetrex Gives First Cell Culture Core Facility Introduction to Online Rapid Stem Cell Counting in the Institute for Applied Life Sciences at... - September 25th, 2022
- Asymmetrex's Introduction of Online Calculators for Determination of the Dosage of Therapeutic Stem Cells Announced as a Reformation in Stem Cell... - September 16th, 2022
- UMass Dartmouth awarded $750000 Massachusetts Life Science grant to diversify the field - New Bedford Guide - September 16th, 2022
- ALS Thought Leaders Weigh in Ahead of Second Amylyx Adcomm - BioSpace - September 8th, 2022
- Scientists convert kidney to universal O blood type - Freethink - August 30th, 2022
- Case Study: SARS-CoV-2 Virus Infecting the Inner Ear - Victoria News - August 14th, 2022
- Evidence Is Growing That LSD Improves Learning and Memory - Futurism - August 14th, 2022
- Rice University: Rice, Baylor developing implants to heal heart attack injuries | India Education | Latest Education News | Global Educational News |... - August 14th, 2022
- Iconic everyday inventions and the women behind them - YourStory - August 14th, 2022
- Head to Head Analysis: VolitionRx (NYSE:VNRX) vs. Intellia Therapeutics (NASDAQ:NTLA) - Defense World - August 14th, 2022
- Man who saved life as stem cell donor urges others to help his friend find a match after five-year search - Lancashire Evening Post - August 5th, 2022
- The 3D Cell Culture Market is expected to reach a value of USD 3721.86 Million by 2027, at a CAGR of 13.4% (2021 2027) - Digital Journal - August 5th, 2022
- Flow Cytometry Market is expected to reach a value of USD 11467.80 Million by 2027, at a CAGR of 8.88% over the forecast period (2021 2027) - Digital... - July 27th, 2022
- Stem Cells Market Competitive Insights And Global Outlook 2022 To 2027 Vcanbio, Boyalife, Beikebiotech, Thermo Fisher Scientific (Massachusetts, US),... - July 11th, 2022
- Seven UMass Amherst Faculty Members Receive NSF CAREER Awards in 2021-22 Academic Year - UMass News and Media Relations - July 11th, 2022
- BrainStorm Strengthens Executive Team with Key Appointments in R&D and Legal - GuruFocus.com - June 22nd, 2022
- Asymmetrex Presents New Developments in its Rapid Stem Cell Counting Technology at the ARMI|BioFabUSA Meeting in the Millyard on Regenerative Medicine... - June 13th, 2022
- Investigators Seek to Push Combination Therapy to the Front-line Treatment of aGVHD - OncLive - June 4th, 2022
- Stem Cells Market 2022 Industry Analysis, Segmentation, Share, Size, Opportunities and Forecast to 2027 The Greater Binghamton Business Journal - The... - June 4th, 2022
- Sheldon Krimsky, Who Warned of Profit Motive in Science, Dies at 80 - The New York Times - May 15th, 2022
- We met during cancer treatments, fell in love and got married - New York Post - May 15th, 2022
- Ticking time bombs of DNA mutation may dictate when animals die - Livescience.com - May 2nd, 2022
- Sen. Orrin Hatch's legacy tracks the GOP's evolution on health - Wisconsin Public Radio - May 2nd, 2022
- Emerging interactions between skin stem cells and their ... - April 6th, 2022
- Priothera Receives R&D Innovation Loan from Bpifrance - PR Newswire - April 6th, 2022
- What is Regeneration? review: A dive into the science of regrowth - New Scientist - April 6th, 2022
- 5 FDA decisions to watch in the second quarter - BioPharma Dive - April 6th, 2022
- Takeda and the New York Academy of Sciences Announce 2022 Innovators in Science Award Winners - The New York Academy of Sciences - April 6th, 2022
- MorphoSys and Incyte Announce Swissmedic Temporary Approval of Minjuvi(R) (tafasitamab) in Combination with Lenalidomide for the Treatment of Adults... - March 25th, 2022
- January 2022: 2021 Papers of the year - Environmental Factor Newsletter - January 5th, 2022
- Liso-Cel Outperforms Standard Therapy in Improving QoL in Relapsed/Refractory LBCL - www.oncnursingnews.com/ - January 5th, 2022
- Stem cells: Sources, types, and uses - Medical News Today - December 24th, 2021
- cGVHD Paradigm Gains Systemic Options Beyond Steroids, But Real-World Data Are Required - OncLive - October 28th, 2021
- Asymmetrex Will Present a New Test for Therapeutic Stem Cell Potency at the ISSCR 2021 Annual Meeting - PRNewswire - June 23rd, 2021
- Infertility: Men account for at least half of cases. So why have women shouldered the blame? - The Irish Times - June 23rd, 2021
- On systemic sources of early life stress, and empathetic responses - MIT News - June 6th, 2021
- How Coronavirus Damages Lung Cells Within Mere Hours And What Drugs Could Halt COVID-19 Infection - SciTechDaily - February 1st, 2021
- Orchard Therapeutics Outlines Comprehensive Presence at 2021 WORLDSymposium - GlobeNewswire - February 1st, 2021
- NurOwn May Be Given to Early ALS Patients in US Who Finished Phase... - ALS News Today - December 20th, 2020
- Be Biopharma debuts with $52M to advance engineered B-cell therapies - FierceBiotech - October 24th, 2020
- Targeted Therapy for Non-Hodgkin Lymphoma: Current Progress and Future Plans - Cancer Therapy Advisor - September 5th, 2020
- Massachusetts Eye and Ear Enters Licensing Agreement with Biogen to Develop Treatment for Inherited Retinal Disorder - Newswise - July 2nd, 2020
- Startup targets glioblastoma tumors with CAR-T therapy - FierceBiotech - May 28th, 2020
- Infrared Laser Treatment of TBI, PTSD, and Depression: An Expert Perspective - Psychiatry Advisor - April 3rd, 2020
- 10 Of The Biggest World Revelations In The 21st Century - World Atlas - February 29th, 2020
- Where Are They Now? Top 3 Biotech Startups From NextGen Bio Class of 2018 - BioSpace - January 10th, 2020
- Firm adds a new wrinkle to anti-aging products - Williamson Daily News - January 5th, 2020
- Top Emerging Technologies of the Year - Technowize - December 29th, 2019
- New Podcast Sponsored by Asymmetrex Increases Awareness to the Need for Stem Cell Dose in Stem Cell Treatments - PR Web - November 9th, 2019
- Exercise found to block chronic inflammation in mice - Harvard Gazette - November 9th, 2019
- Arkuda bags $44M to target progranulin and head off inherited dementia - FierceBiotech - November 9th, 2019
- New study reveals why breast cancer spreads to the brain - USC News - October 23rd, 2019
- Comparison of Merus N.V. (MRUS) and Sage Therapeutics Inc. (NASDAQ:SAGE) - MS Wkly - October 23rd, 2019
- Reviewing Cellectis S.A. (CLLS)'s and Magenta Therapeutics Inc. (NASDAQ:MGTA)'s results - MS Wkly - October 23rd, 2019
- Massachusetts Stem Cells | Stem Cell TV - September 10th, 2019
- Chronic variable stress activates hematopoietic stem cells ... - April 12th, 2019
- Boston, MA, Stem Cell Transplant, Weston, Nantucket ... - January 10th, 2019
- Cloning/Embryonic Stem Cells - National Human Genome ... - July 5th, 2018
- Alternate Methods for Preparing Pluripotent Stem Cells ... - September 25th, 2017
- Doubts raised about CRISPR gene-editing study in human embryos - Nature.com - September 2nd, 2017
- For Lowell native, stem cell match becomes a match as friends - Lowell Sun - September 2nd, 2017
- Lymphoma Patient's Brain Tumor Disappeared After She Received JCAR017, Study Reports - Lymphoma News Today - September 2nd, 2017
- Asymmetrex Introduces New Contract Service For Producing ... - PR Web (press release) - August 29th, 2017
- ORGANOID - Science Magazine - August 27th, 2017
- Current humanized mice not good models for studying stem cell transplants, say researchers - Scope (blog) - August 27th, 2017
- Mouse Model of Human Immune System Inadequate for Stem Cell ... - Technology Networks - August 27th, 2017
- CRISPR fixes disease gene in viable human embryos - Nature.com - August 6th, 2017
- X4 joins hands with Yale on rare disease program - FierceBiotech - August 6th, 2017
- TGF-1: ALS Astrocytes' Secret Sauce? - ALS Research Forum - August 6th, 2017
- From Stem Cells to Human Development - September 2016 ... - December 4th, 2016
- Stem cell controversy - Wikipedia - December 1st, 2016
- What Are Stem Cells? - Massachusetts General Hospital ... - November 22nd, 2016
- New England Cord Blood Bank - Cord Blood and Cord Tissue ... - November 22nd, 2016
- Stem-cell-based therapy promising for treatment of breast ... - September 26th, 2016
- Stem Cell FAQ - Massachusetts General Hospital, Boston, MA - July 27th, 2016
- Stem Cell Facts - University of Massachusetts Medical School - July 27th, 2016
- Cloning/Embryonic Stem Cells - Genome.gov - October 19th, 2015
- Biomedical engineer developing nanomaterial for healing broken bones - March 18th, 2015
- Researchers identify a vital protein that can determine head and brain development - March 13th, 2015