A novel and generalizable organotypic slice platform to evaluate stem cell potential for targeting pediatric brain tumors.

Authors

Shengwen Calvin Li, Center for Neuroscience and Stem Cell Research, Neuroscience Institute, Children's Hospital of Orange County Research Institute, 455 S. Main Street, Orange, CA 92868, USA, Department of Neurology, University of California Irvine, Orange, CA 92862-4280, USA, Department of Cancer Biology, Kimmel Cancer Center, Thomas Jefferson University, Philadelphia, PA 19107, USA, Department of Biological Science, California State University, Fullerton, CA 92834, USAFollow
William Gunter Loudon, Center for Neuroscience and Stem Cell Research, Neuroscience Institute, Children's Hospital of Orange County Research Institute, 455 S. Main Street, Orange, CA 92868, USA, Department of Neurological Surgery, University of California Irvine, Orange, CA 92868-3298, USAFollow

Document Type

Article

Publication Date

1-1-2008

Comments

This article has been peer reviewed and is published in BMC Cancer Cell International. Volume 8, 22 May 2008, Page 9. The published version is available at DOI: 10.1186/1475-2867-8-9. Copyright © BioMed Central Ltd.

Abstract

Brain tumors are now the leading cause of cancer-related deaths in children under age 15. Malignant gliomas are, for all practical purposes, incurable and new therapeutic approaches are desperately needed. One emerging strategy is to use the tumor tracking capacity inherent in many stem cell populations to deliver therapeutic agents to the brain cancer cells. Current limitations of the stem cell therapy strategy include that stem cells are treated as a single entity and lack of uniform technology is adopted for selection of clinically relevant sub-populations of stem cells. Specifically, therapeutic success relies on the selection of a clinically competent stem cell population based on their capacity of targeting brain tumors. A novel and generalizable organotypic slice platform to evaluate stem cell potential for targeting pediatric brain tumors is proposed to fill the gap in the current work flow of stem cell-based therapy. The organotypic slice platform has advantages of being mimic in vivo model, easier to manipulate to optimize parameters than in vivo models such as rodents and primates. This model serves as a framework to address the discrepancy between anticipated in vivo results and actual in vivo results, a critical barrier to timely progress in the field of the use of stem cells for the treatment of neurological disorders.

Recommended Citation

Li, Shengwen Calvin and Loudon, William Gunter, "A novel and generalizable organotypic slice platform to evaluate stem cell potential for targeting pediatric brain tumors." (2008). Department of Cancer Biology Faculty Papers. Paper 23.
https://jdc.jefferson.edu/cbfp/23

PubMed ID

18498656