2022/10/03
Keio University School of Medicine
A research group led by Professor Masahiro Toda of the Department of Neurosurgery, Keio University School of Medicine, has demonstrated that neural stem cells (NSCs) derived from human iPS cells migrate toward invasive glioma stem cells (GSCs) that spread into surrounding tissues. The group is advancing research on the therapeutic application of NSCs as "delivery vehicles" for genes.
In this study, the researchers revealed that by incorporating a therapeutic gene into iPS cells using genome editing technology, inducing them into therapeutic NSCs, and then transplanting them into the brain, a significant antitumor effect was exhibited in a mouse model of refractory GSCs. With this therapeutic method, the transplanted therapeutic NSCs also self-destruct through the administration of a non-toxic prodrug, thereby avoiding the risk of tumorigenesis from the NSCs themselves.
Therapeutic NSCs have the potential to efficiently kill invasive and treatment-resistant GSCs that have spread widely within the brain and are difficult to treat. To improve the prognosis for malignant glioma, an extremely intractable disease, and to conduct early-stage clinical trials, preparations are currently underway to create clinical-grade therapeutic NSCs.
The results of this research were published in the online edition of the American scientific journal Bioengineering & Translational Medicine on September 10, 2022 (Japan Standard Time).
Please see below for the full press release.