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Anticancer effects of the engineered stem cells transduced with therapeutic genes via a selective tumor tropism caused by vascular endothelial growth factor toward HeLa cervical cancer cells

  • Research Article
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Molecules and Cells

Abstract

The aim of the present study was to investigate the therapeutic efficacy of genetically engineered stem cells (GESTECs) expressing bacterial cytosine deaminase (CD) and/or human interferon-beta (IFN-β) gene against HeLa cervical cancer and the migration factors of the GESTECs toward the cancer cells. Anticancer effect of GESTECs was examined in a co-culture with HeLa cells using MTT assay to measure cell viability. A transwell migration assay was performed so as to assess the migration capability of the stem cells to cervical cancer cells. Next, several chemoattractant ligands and their receptors related to a selective migration of the stem cells toward HeLa cells were determined by real-time PCR. The cell viability of HeLa cells was decreased in response to 5-fluorocytosine (5-FC), a prodrug, indicating that 5-fluorouracil (5-FU), a toxic metabolite, was converted from 5-FC by CD gene and it caused the cell death in a co-culture system. When IFN-β was additionally expressed with CD gene by these GESTECs, the anticancer activity was significantly increased. In the migration assay, the GESTECs selectively migrated to HeLa cervical cancer cells. As results of real-time PCR, chemoattractant ligands such as MCP-1, SCF, and VEGF were expressed in HeLa cells, and several receptors such as uPAR, VEGFR2, and c-kit were produced by the GESTECs. These GESTECs transduced with CD gene and IFN-β may provide a potential of a novel gene therapy for anticervical cancer treatments via their selective tumor tropism derived from VEGF and VEGFR2 expressions between HeLa cells and the GESTECs.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Laboratory of Veterinary Biochemistry and Immunology, College of Veterinary Medicine, Chungbuk National University, Cheongju, 361-763, Korea

    Hye-Sun Kim, Bo-Rim Yi, Kyung-A Hwang & Kyung-Chul Choi

  2. Medical Research Institute, Chung-Ang University College of Medicine, Seoul, 156-756, Korea

    Seung U. Kim

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  1. Hye-Sun Kim
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  2. Bo-Rim Yi
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  4. Seung U. Kim
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  5. Kyung-Chul Choi
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Correspondence to Kyung-Chul Choi.

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These authors contributed equally to this work.

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Kim, HS., Yi, BR., Hwang, KA. et al. Anticancer effects of the engineered stem cells transduced with therapeutic genes via a selective tumor tropism caused by vascular endothelial growth factor toward HeLa cervical cancer cells. Mol Cells 36, 347–354 (2013). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10059-013-0153-3

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s10059-013-0153-3

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