A group of Harvard scientists has successfully engineered toxin-loaded stem cells that are capable of killing brain tumors without damaging healthy cells or themselves, a study published in the journal STEM CELLS reported.

Neuroscientist Dr. Khalid Shah of the Harvard Stem Cell Institute led the experiment involving genetically-modified stem cells that carry a payload of cancer-killing drugs delivered straight to solid tumors in the brain.

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In laboratory tests, the stem cells were able to resist the effects of the toxins while killing the cancer cells they have targeted.

For many years, scientists have been researching the use of stem cells in developing effective cancer treatments. Specifically, a stem cell-based therapy that could eliminate cancer cells in the body without harming the stem cells as well.

Dr. Shah said a variety of blood cancers have benefited from cancer-killing toxins, but these have not been effective against solid tumors until now. He said that through genetically engineering toxin-resistant stem cells, this has become possible.

Chris Mason, a Professor at the University College London praised the research as "clever," saying the discovery may usher in the next wave of stem cell-based cancer therapies.

"Cells can do so much. This is the way the future is going to be," BBC quoted him as saying.

Another stem cell expert dubbed the research as the "future" of cancer treatment.  

A scientist at the Cancer Research UK, Nell Barrie, is equally hopeful about the results of the study. He said, there is an urgent need for better brain tumor treatment and Dr. Shah's technique may actually have steered cancer research in the right direction.

Dr. Shah and his colleagues at Harvard and Massachusetts General Hospital have only tested the technology in mice and lab-produced cancer cells. Their next plan is to test the genetically-modified toxin-carrying stem cells on mice planted with glioblastoma, the most common brain tumor in humans.  

Tagsstem cell-based cancer therapy, cancer therapy research, stem cell research, Cancer treatment