DNA-binding Cell-penetrating Peptide-based TRAIL Over-expression in Adipose Tissue-derived Mesenchymal Stem Cells Inhibits Glioma U251MG Growth.

Abstract

Genetic manipulation of stem cells using non-viral vectors is still limited due to low transfection efficiency. We investigated whether the DNA-binding cell-permeation peptides (CPP) can enhance the transfection efficiency of non-viral vectors in adipose tissue-derived mesenchymal stem cells (ASCs) and whether ASCs over-expressing TRAIL through CPP can inhibit the growth of glioma U251MG cells in vitro and in vivo. ASCs were genetically engineered to over-express TRAIL by using CPP, pCMV3-TRAIL and lipid-based transfection reagents (X-tremeGENE). The transfection efficiency of ASCs increased by approximately 7% using CPP; 53.9% of ASCs were transfected and TRAIL expression in ASCs increased by approximately 3 times compared to X-tremeGENE alone. ASCs over-expressing TRAIL using CPP inhibited growth of glioma U251MG cells both in vitro and in the U251MG xenograft model. CPP can be used as an enhancer for genetically manipulating ASCs and tumor treatment.