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Mesenchymal stem cells: a trojan horse to treat glioblastoma

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Summary

Glioblastoma multiforme (GBM) is the most common and lethal primary tumor of the central nervous system. What makes it so dreadful is the very low survival rate, despite the existence of a standard treatment plan. An innovative and more effective way to treat glioblastoma based on Mesenchymal Stem Cells (MSCs) has been explored recently. MSCs are a group of endogenous multipotent stem cells that could mainly be harvested from adipose tissue, bone marrow, and umbilical cord. Having the ability to migrate toward the tumor using multiple types of binding receptors, they could be used either as a direct treatment (whether they are enhanced or not) or as a delivery vehicle carrying various anti-tumoral agents. Some of these agents are: chemotherapy drugs, prodrug activating therapy, oncolytic viruses, nanoparticles, human artificial chromosome… Promising results have started to surface; however, more evidence is needed to perfect their use as a glioblastoma multiforme treatment option.

Graphical Abstract

Alternative treatment, using unloaded or loaded MSCs, leading to a better outcome

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Abbreviations

5-FC:

5-Fluorocytosine

5-FU:

5-Fluorouracil

AT-MSC:

Adipose Tissue Mesenchymal Stem Cell

BBB:

Blood brain barrier

BM-MSC:

Bone Marrow Mesenchymal Stem Cell

BMP-4:

Bone Morphogenic Protein

CM:

Conditioned Media

CNS:

Central nervous system

DAMP:

Damage Associated Molecular Pattern

ECM:

Extracellular matrix

EMT:

Epithelial-Mesenchymal Transition

Fc-diOH:

Ferrocenyl diphenol tamoxifen derivative

GBM:

Glioblastoma Multiforme

GCV:

Ganciclovir

GSC:

Glioma stem cell

HSV-TK:

Herpes Simplex Virus Thymidine Kinase

hTERT:

Human Telomerase Reverse Transcriptase

LNC:

Lipid Nanocapsules

miR:

MicroRNA

mRNA:

Messenger RNA

MSC:

Mesenchymal stem cell

NDV:

Newcastle Disease Virus

NK:

Natural Killer

NP:

Nanoparticles

PD:

Population Doublings

PTX:

Paclitaxel

ROS:

Reactive Oxygen Species

SFN:

Sorafenib

TGFß:

Tumor Growth Factor ß

TMZ:

Temozolomide

TRAIL:

TNF-related apoptosis-inducing ligand

UC-MSC:

Umbilical Cord Mesenchymal Stem Cells

UCB-MSC:

Umbilical Cord Blood Mesenchymal Stem Cells

UTR:

Untranslated Regions

XIAP:

X-Linked Inhibitor of Apoptosis

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Faculty of Medicine, Saint Joseph University of Beirut, Riad El Solh, 11 - 5076, Beirut, Lebanon

    Antoine Chartouni, Antoine Mouawad, Marc Boutros, Fouad Attieh, Nicolas Medawar & Hampig Raphaël Kourie

  2. Department of hematology-oncology, Faculty of medicine, Saint-joseph university of beirut, Beirut, Lebanon

    Hampig Raphaël Kourie

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  1. Antoine Chartouni
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  2. Antoine Mouawad
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  3. Marc Boutros
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  6. Hampig Raphaël Kourie
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Contributions

In this study, Antoine Chartouni, Marc Boutros, Fouad Attieh, Antoine Mouawad and Nicolas Medawar were all responsible of the investigation and gathering the information, data curation, writing and editing the draft original and the final review. On the other hand, Dr. Hampig Raphaël Kourie was supervising the project, and was responsible for the project administration as well as the validation of the research.

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Correspondence to Antoine Chartouni.

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Chartouni, A., Mouawad, A., Boutros, M. et al. Mesenchymal stem cells: a trojan horse to treat glioblastoma. Invest New Drugs 41, 240–250 (2023). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10637-023-01352-9

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