title: Selective sensitiveness of mesenchymal stem cells to shock waves leads to anticancer effect in human cancer cell co-cultures.
abstract: OBJECTIVE
  Mesenchymal stem cells (MSC) possess the distinctive feature of homing in on and engrafting into the tumor stroma making their therapeutic applications in cancer treatment very promising. Research into new effectors and external stimuli, which can selectively trigger the release of cytotoxic species from MSC toward the cancer cells, significantly raises their potential.
  
  
  METHODS
  Shock waves (SW) have recently gained recognition for their ability to induce specific biological effects, such as the local generation of cytotoxic reactive oxygen species (ROS) in a non-invasive and tunable manner. We thus investigate whether MSC are able to generate ROS and, in turn, affect cancer cell growth when in co-culture with human glioblastoma (U87) or osteosarcoma (U2OS) cells and exposed to SW.
  
  
  RESULTS
  MSC were found to be the cell line that was most sensitive to SW treatment as shown by SW-induced ROS production and cytotoxicity. Notably, U87 and U2OS cancer cell growth was unaffected by SW exposure. However, significant decreases in cancer cell growth, 1.8 fold for U87 and 2.3 fold for U2OS, were observed 24h after the SW treatment of MSC co-cultures with cancer cells. The ROS production induced in MSC by SW exposure was then responsible for lipid peroxidation and cell death in U87 and U2OS cells co-cultured with MSC.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  This experiment highlights the unique ability of MSC to generate ROS upon SW treatment and induce the cell death of co-cultured cancer cells. SW might therefore be proposed as an innovative tool for MSC-mediated cancer treatment.
authors.affiliation: Department of Drug Science and Technology, University of Torino, Italy.
authors.forename: Federica
authors.initials: F
authors.lastname: Foglietta
authors.affiliation: Osteoarticular Regeneration Laboratory, Rizzoli Orthopaedic Institute, Bologna, Italy.
authors.forename: Serena
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Duchi
authors.affiliation: Department of Drug Science and Technology, University of Torino, Italy. Electronic address: roberto.canaparo@unito.it.
authors.forename: Roberto
authors.initials: R
authors.lastname: Canaparo
authors.affiliation: National Research Council, Institute for the Organic Synthesis and Photoreactivity, Bologna, Italy.
authors.forename: Greta
authors.initials: G
authors.lastname: Varchi
authors.affiliation: Osteoarticular Regeneration Laboratory, Rizzoli Orthopaedic Institute, Bologna, Italy.
authors.forename: Enrico
authors.initials: E
authors.lastname: Lucarelli
authors.affiliation: Osteoarticular Regeneration Laboratory, Rizzoli Orthopaedic Institute, Bologna, Italy; Department of Biomedical and Neuromotor Sciences (DIBINEM), University of Bologna, Italy.
authors.forename: Barbara
authors.initials: B
authors.lastname: Dozza
authors.affiliation: Department of Drug Science and Technology, University of Torino, Italy.
authors.forename: Loredana
authors.initials: L
authors.lastname: Serpe
mesh_terms: D001859:Bone Neoplasms / Q000378:metabolism / Q000473:pathology / Q000628:therapy; D016923:Cell Death; D045744:Cell Line, Tumor; D018920:Coculture Techniques; D005260:Female; D005909:Glioblastoma / Q000378:metabolism / Q000473:pathology / Q000628:therapy; D019220:High-Energy Shock Waves; D006801:Humans; D015227:Lipid Peroxidation; D008297:Male; D040542:Mechanotransduction, Cellular; D059630:Mesenchymal Stem Cells / Q000378:metabolism* / Q000473:pathology; D012516:Osteosarcoma / Q000378:metabolism / Q000473:pathology / Q000628:therapy; D017382:Reactive Oxygen Species / Q000378:metabolism
chemical_list: D017382:Reactive Oxygen Species
keywords: Cancer; Lipid peroxidation; Mesenchymal stem cells; Reactive oxygen species; Ultrasound