Ebiomedicine: researchers have developed cancer treatments that target bone metastasis while preserving bone tissue

July 31, 2019 / BIOON / - researchers at the University of California, Irvine (UCI) have developed and tested a treatment method in mice that uses engineered stem cells to target and kill cancer metastasis in bone tissue while preserving bone The new approach, published in the Journal ebiomedicine, equips engineered mesenchymal stem cells with a targeting agent that causes them to migrate to bone metastases, where they release therapeutic drugs Photo source: ebiomedicine "the strength of this strategy is that we provide a combination of anti-tumor and anti bone absorbers, so that we can effectively block the vicious circle between cancer and its bone sites," said Weian Zhao, lead author of the study and associate professor of pharmaceutical science and biomedical engineering "Compared with chemotherapy, it is a safe and almost non-toxic treatment, and chemotherapy often brings lifelong problems to patients "Sandra Spivey, a patient advocate in Orange County, has been living with metastatic breast cancer since 1997 and has experienced the destruction of traditional treatments "Chemotherapy can kill cancer cells and normal cells and have dramatic side effects," she said I've lost my hair; my hands and feet are unconscious Most of all, chemotherapy really wastes your time This new targeted method can improve the quality of life during and after treatment "The strategy can also be applied to other bone diseases that are often difficult to control, such as multiple myeloma and osteoporosis "This study will pave the way for clinical trials in the short term because this type of stem cell has been tested and is considered safe in clinical practice," Zhao said "The Department of Pharmaceutical Sciences of UCI, the sue & Bill Gross stem cell research center and the Chao family comprehensive cancer center all have sufficient conditions for such clinical trials Our goal is for patients with bone metastases "Reference: Aude I segaliny et al, combinatorial targeting of cancer bone metastasis using mRNA engineered stem cells, ebiomedicine (2019) Doi: 10.1016/j.ebiom.2019.06.047