‘Novel, effective’ brain cancer treatment using genetic material from bone marrow cells

Apr. 1, 2013 In a first-of-its-kind experiment using microvesicles generated from mesenchymal bone marrow cells (MSCs) to treat cancer, neurological researchers at Henry Ford Hospital have discovered a novel approach for treatment of tumors.

Specifically, the research team found that introducing genetic material produced by MSCs significantly reduced a particularly resistant form of malignant brain tumor in living lab rats.

"This is the first foray of its type in experimental cancer therapy, and it represents a highly novel and potentially effective treatment," says Michael Chopp, Ph.D., scientific director of the Henry Ford Neuroscience Institute and vice chairman of the Department of Neurology at Henry Ford Hospital.

The research is published in the current issue Cancer Letters.

"I think this is an important and very novel approach for the treatment of cancers, and in this particular case the treatment of glioma," says Dr. Chopp. "We have been at the forefront of developing microRNAs as a means to treat disease, such as cancer and neurological injury.

"This study shows it is effective in the living brain, and may even lend itself to specific cancer therapy, customized for the individual patient," Chopp adds.

Chopp and his colleagues focused their efforts on glioma, by far the most common type of malignant brain tumor and one with a notably poor prognosis for survival.

Tumor cells were surgically implanted in the brains of anesthetized male lab rats and allowed to grow for five days.

The tumors then were injected with exosomes containing molecules of a microRNA called miR-146b -- found in earlier Henry Ford research to have a strong effect on glioma cells.

Exosomes are microscopic "lipid bubbles" that once were thought to carry and get rid of "old" proteins that were no longer needed by the body. After they were more recently found to also carry RNA, whole new fields of study were suggested, including groundbreaking work by Henry Ford researchers.

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'Novel, effective' brain cancer treatment using genetic material from bone marrow cells