In Vivo Effects of Conditioned Medium from Human Uterine Cervical Stem Cells in an Ovarian Cancer Xenograft Mouse Model

Abstract

Background/aim: Ovarian cancer is the most lethal of all gynecological cancers, despite advances in surgical techniques and medical treatments. During the last years, therapies based on mesenchymal stem cells and particularly their secretome (conditioned medium, CM) have emerged as promising treatments for various types of tumors.

Materials and methods: In the present study, we evaluated the in vivo antitumor effect of human uterine cervical stem cell conditioned medium (hUCESC-CM) after intraperitoneal administration in an ovarian cancer mouse model.

Results: We found that intraperitoneal injection of hUCESC-CM in immunodeficient mice, injected fifty days previously with the human ovarian adenocarcinoma SKOV-3 cell line, significantly reduced abdominal tumor growth, and significantly increased overall survival, compared to control mice.

Conclusion: hUCESC-CM could be an alternative approach to intraperitoneal treatment of ovarian cancer, either administered alone and/or with conventional chemotherapy.

Keywords: Mesenchymal stem cells; conditioned medium; ovarian cancer; secretome.