Recently developed
drug delivery nanosystems, such as
lipid nanocapsules (LNCs), hold great promise for the treatment of
glioblastomas (GBs). In this study, we used a subpopulation of human mesenchymal stem cells, "marrow-isolated adult multilineage inducible" (MIAMI) cells, which have endogenous
tumor-homing activity, to deliver LNCs containing an organometallic complex (
ferrociphenol or
Fc-diOH), in the orthotopic U87MG GB model. We determined the optimal dose of
Fc-diOH-LNCs that can be carried by MIAMI cells and compared the efficacy of
Fc-diOH-LNC-loaded MIAMI cells with that of the free-standing
Fc-diOH-LNC system. We showed that MIAMI cells entrapped an optimal dose of about 20 pg
Fc-diOH per cell, with no effect on cell viability or migration capacity. The survival of U87MG-bearing mice was longer after the intratumoral injection of
Fc-diOH-LNC-loaded MIAMI cells than after the injection of
Fc-diOH-LNCs alone. The greater effect of the
Fc-diOH-LNC-loaded MIAMI cells may be accounted for by their peritumoral distribution and a longer residence time of the
drug within the
tumor. These results confirm the potential of combinations of stem cell
therapy and nanotechnology to improve the local tissue distribution of anticancer drugs in GB.