Cell biology

Oncolytic virus

Biology

Stem cell

Neural stem cell

Cancer research

Cancer stem cell

Immunology

Progenitor cell

Tumor cells

Tropism

Internal medicine

Medicine

Ovarian cancer

Virus

Cancer

Cancer cell

Stem Cell Research & Therapy

Immortalized, clonal HB1.F3.CD 21 human neural stem/progenitor cells (NSCs), loaded with therapeutic cargo prior to intraperitoneal (IP) injection, have been shown to improve the delivery and efficacy of therapeutic agents in pre-clinical models of stage III ovarian cancer. In previous studies, the distribution and efficacy of the NSC-delivered cargo has been examined; however, the fate of the NSCs has not yet been explored.To monitor NSC tropism, we used an unconventional method of quantifying endocytosed gold nanorods to overcome the weaknesses of existing cell-tracking technologies.Here, we report efficient tumor tropism of HB1.F3.CD 21 NSCs, showing that they primarily distribute to the tumor stroma surrounding individual tumor foci within 3 h after injection, reaching up to 95% of IP metastases without localizing to healthy tissue. Furthermore, we demonstrate that these NSCs are non-tumorigenic and non-immunogenic within the peritoneal setting.Their efficient tropism, combined with their promising clinical safety features and potential for cost-effective scale-up, positions this NSC line as a practical, off-the-shelf platform to improve the delivery of a myriad of peritoneal cancer therapeutics.

Allogeneic human neural stem cells for improved therapeutic delivery to peritoneal ovarian cancer