BM-MSC loaded with PTXhome to brain tumor and induce cytotoxic damage

The key goal in cancer chemotherapy still remains to localize the drug effect specifically in the tumor microenvironment minimizing collateral toxicity. Mesenchymal stromal cells (MSCs) have recently gained great interest as therapeutic tool, because of their unique biological features. MSCs exert their therapeutic effects by several mechanisms, including the ability to home to pathological tissues. In previous studies, we demonstrated that MSC without any genetic manipulation, uptake and release the chemotherapeutic drug Paclitaxel (PTX) in an amount enough to impair tumor growth in subcutaneous mice models (1). Here we wanted to assess if PTX-loaded MSCs have a tropism in orthotopic glioblastoma multiforme (GBM) brain xenografts. Moreover, we characterized cytotoxic effect of PTX-loaded MSCs on tumor cells.