Thymidine kinase gene modified bone marrow mesenchymal stem cells as vehicles for antitumor therapy

Bone marrow mesenchymal stem cells (BMSCs) represent an important source of cells for tissue repair. The tropism of these cells to the sites of injury and tumors has been well established. Their tumor-homing properties make BMSCs good candidates as antitumor agent delivery vehicles. In this study, we showed that BMSCs have the ability to migrate toward various cancer cells, including prostate cancer cells in vitro and in vivo and incorporating into the tumor mass. When infected with herpes simplex virus thymidine kinase (TK) gene by lentiviral transduction, TK-BMSCs maintained their tumor tropism capabilities and significantly inhibited the growth of subcutaneous PC3 prostate cancer xenografts in nude mice, in the presence of prodrug ganciclovir (GCV). Xenogenic TK-BMSCs also survived and exerted a significant antitumor effect in an animal model bearing metastastic RIF-1 (fibrosarcoma) tumor in the presence of prodrug GCV. The present study demonstrated that overexpression of TK in BMSCs did not affect their multidifferentiation potentials and their specific homing capacities toward the tumor mass, and the TK-BMSCs alone did not cause any harmful side effects in vivo. The use of TK-BMSCs as tumor-specific delivery vehicles together with controlled prodrug treatment may be a safe and novel anticancer therapy approach.