Insufficient targeting of the therapeutic genes to tumor cells is one of the major reasons for failure in cancer gene therapy. Mesenchymal stem cells (MSCs) seem to be a good candidate as a carrier for gene therapy because of its selective tumor tissue-homing properties. | Turkish Journal of Biology Turk J Biol (2016) 40: 1121-1128 © TÜBİTAK doi: Research Article Baculoviral vector loaded mesenchymal stem cells as efficient gene therapy tools for cancer treatment 1 1, 2 2 Sedef Hande AKTAŞ , Hakan AKBULUT *, Ayşe Eser ELÇİN , Mahmut PARMAKSIZ , 3 4 2 1 Arzu Aktan KESKİN , Arzu ÇÖLERİ CİHAN , Yaşar Murat ELÇİN , Fikri İÇLİ 1 Department of Medical Oncology, Ankara University School of Medicine, Ankara, Turkey 2 Tissue Engineering, Biomaterials and Nanobiotechnology Laboratory, Ankara University Faculty of Science, and Ankara University Stem Cell Institute, Ankara, Turkey 3 Department of Physiology, Gazi University, Ankara, Turkey 4 Department of Biology, Ankara University Faculty of Science, Ankara, Turkey Received: Accepted/Published Online: Final Version: Abstract: Insufficient targeting of the therapeutic genes to tumor cells is one of the major reasons for failure in cancer gene therapy. Mesenchymal stem cells (MSCs) seem to be a good candidate as a carrier for gene therapy because of its selective tumor tissue-homing properties. In the current study, we constructed baculoviral vectors (BVs) carrying cytosine deaminase (CD) (BV-CD) or green fluorescence protein (GFP) genes (BV-GFP) and tested the transduction efficiency of the vectors in tumor and mesenchymal stem cells. We also tested the in vivo efficacy of the BV-CD vector in a colon cancer model. Our results showed that the recombinant baculoviral vectors can efficiently transduce mammalian cells and express genes of interest. The BV-CD vector treatment caused significant in vitro cytotoxicity when used with 5-fluorocytosine. MSCs loaded with the BV-CD vector caused a significant delay in tumor growth and increased survival when compared to control and MSC alone treated groups bearing colon cancer. Our results show that the recombinant BV-CD vector could be used either alone .
