Engineering Circulating Tumor Cells as Novel Cancer Theranostics.

Theranostics
Katie M ParkinsJohn A Ronald

Abstract

New ways to target and treat metastatic disease are urgently needed. Tumor "self-homing" describes the recruitment of circulating tumor cells (CTCs) back to a previously excised primary tumor location, contributing to tumor recurrence, as well as their migration to established metastatic lesions. Recently, self-homing CTCs have been exploited as delivery vehicles for anti-cancer therapeutics in preclinical primary tumor models. However, the ability of CTCs to self-home and treat metastatic disease is largely unknown. Methods: Here, we used bioluminescence imaging (BLI) to explore whether systemically administered CTCs home to metastatic lesions and if CTCs armed with both a reporter gene and a cytotoxic prodrug gene therapy can be used to visualize and treat metastatic disease. Results: BLI performed over time revealed a remarkable ability of CTCs to home to and treat tumors throughout the body. Excitingly, metastatic tumor burden in mice that received therapeutic CTCs was lower compared to mice receiving control CTCs. Conclusion: This study demonstrates the noteworthy ability of experimental CTCs to home to disseminated breast cancer lesions. Moreover, by incorporating a prodrug gene therapy system into our self-homing CTCs, w...Continue Reading

Citations

Mar 9, 2021·Nanoscale·Katie M ParkinsPaula J Foster
Apr 16, 2021·ACS Applied Materials & Interfaces·Laura HaDong-Pyo Kim
Jul 28, 2021·Molecular Imaging and Biology : MIB : the Official Publication of the Academy of Molecular Imaging·Shirley LiuJohn A Ronald

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Methods Mentioned

BETA
bioluminescence
FACS

Software Mentioned

GraphPad Prism
LivingImage

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