Targeted suicide gene therapy for glioma using human embryonic stem cell-derived neural stem cells genetically modified by baculoviral vectors.

Tumor-tropic neural stem cells (NSCs) can be used in the Trojan horse approach as cellular vehicles for targeted delivery of therapeutic agents to distant tumor sites. To realize this cancer therapy potential, it is important to have a renewable source to generate large quantities of uniform human NSCs. Here, we reported that NSCs derived from HES1 human embryonic stem cell line were capable of migrating into intracranial glioma xenografts after systemic injection or after intracranial injection at a site distant from the tumor. To test whether the HES1-derived NSCs can be used for cancer gene therapy, we used a baculoviral vector to introduce the herpes simplex virus thymidine kinase suicide gene into the cells and demonstrated that baculovirus-mediated transgene expression may last for at least 3 weeks in NSCs. After being injected into the cerebral hemisphere opposite the tumor site and in the presence of ganciclovir, NSCs expressing the suicide gene were able to inhibit the growth of human glioma xenografts and prolong survival of tumor-bearing mice. Our findings suggest that human embryonic stem cells could potentially serve as a clinically viable source for production of cellular vehicles suitable for targeted anticancer gene therapy.