Delay tumor progression with the introduction of engineered impactive cells

Abstract The complete eradication of tumor cells is extremely challenging. An alternative strategy is tumor containment, which utilizes the interaction of tumor cells and has achieved promising results. However, effective interaction and controllability are not guaranteed for a given tumor. Here, we proposed a novel strategy comprising an impactive cell population and a control system and realized it in leukemic mouse model. To identify impactive cells, we xenografted six leukemic cell lines together. We found NALM-6 cells strongly impact the infiltration of other leukemic cells. To control NALM-6 cells, we introduced the herpes simplex virus thymidine kinase/ganciclovir suicide system. We found they effectively controlled the infiltration of NALM-6 cells. To evaluate the effectiveness, we used this strategy in mice xenografted with REH cells. The survival time was significantly elongated. In summary, our strategy guaranteed the impact and controllability of effector cells, thereby extending the tumor containment strategy.