Effects of mesenchymal stem cells harboring the Interferon-β gene on A549 lung cancer in nude mice.

Interferon-β (IFN-β) exhibits a tumor-killing effect; however, injection of IFN-β alone for lung cancer is often accompanied by side effects. This study investigated the possibility of using umbilical cord mesenchymal stem cells (MSCs) as cellular carriers of IFN-β. Isolated umbilical cord MSCs were transfected with a lentivirus packaging IFN-β-overexpression plasmid. A549 cells were subcutaneously injected into nude mice to establish a non-small cell lung cancer (NSCLC) mouse model. A total of 50 mice were randomly assigned to 5 different groups: a control group, IFN-β group, IFN-β-MSCs group, MSCs-lentivirus group, and MSCs group. Next, the IFN-β-MSCs, MSCs-lentivirus, and MSCs were injected into the A549 lung cancer-bearing mice in the IFN-β-MSCs, MSCs-lentivirus and MSCs groups, respectively. Mice in the control and IFN-β groups were injected with solvent or IFN-β solution. The tumors in nude mice in the IFN-β and IFN-β-MSCs groups grew at significantly slower rates than tumors in the control group, and tumors in the MSCs-lentivirus and MSC groups also grew slowly. The rates of tumor cell apoptosis in the IFN-β and IFN-β-MSCs groups were significantly higher than those in the MSCs-lentivirus and MSCs groups. The livers, lungs, and kidneys of nude mice in the IFN-β group displayed hyperemia, exudation, and pathological lesions, while those of nude mice in the IFN-β-MSCs group showed no abnormal changes. Both INF-β-MSCs and INF-β inhibited the growth of subcutaneously implanted lung tumors; however, INF-β-MSCs specifically targeted the tumor cells, and did not produce the damage to internal organs caused by the use of INF-β alone.