Glioblastomas represent an important cause of
cancer-related mortality with poor survival. Despite many advances, the mean survival time has not significantly improved in the last decades. New experimental approaches have shown
tumor regression after the grafting of neural stem cells and human mesenchymal stem cells into experimental intracranial
gliomas of adult rodents. However, the cell source seems to be an important limitation for
autologous transplantation in
glioblastoma. In the present study, we evaluated the
tumor targeting and antitumor activity of human skin-derived stem cells (hSDSCs) in human
brain tumor models. The hSDSCs exhibit
tumor targeting characteristics in vivo when injected into the controlateral hemisphere or into the tail vein of mice. When implanted directly into
glioblastomas, hSDSCs distributed themselves extensively throughout the
tumor mass, reduced
tumor vessel density, and decreased angiogenic sprouts. In addition, transplanted hSDSCs differentiate into pericyte cell and release high amounts of human
transforming growth factor-beta1 with low expression of
vascular endothelial growth factor, which may contribute to the decreased
tumor cell invasion and number of
tumor vessels. In long-term experiments, the hSDSCs were also able to significantly inhibit
tumor growth and to prolong animal survival. Similar behavior was seen when hSDSCs were implanted into two different
tumor models, the chicken embryo experimental
glioma model and the transgenic Tyrp1-Tag mice. Taken together, these data validate the use of hSDSCs for targeting human
brain tumors. They may represent therapeutically effective cells for the treatment of intracranial
tumors after
autologous transplantation.