A Dual-Functional Persistently Luminescent Nanocomposite Enables Engineering of Mesenchymal Stem Cells for Homing and Gene Therapy of Glioblastoma

Therapeutically engineered mesenchymal stem cells (MSC) have shown promising capability for glioblastoma (GBM) therapy; however, simultaneous tracking of their migration and long-term fate is urgently needed for clinical application. This study shows the design and fabrication of a dual-functional persistent luminescence nanocomposite (LPLNP-PPT/TRAIL) for effective therapeutic engineering and tracking of MSC in the meantime. LPLNP-PPT/TRAIL shows low-toxicity, near-infrared persistent luminescence emitting without in situ excitation, and superior in vivo deep brain tissue imaging, which can efficiently track the tumortropic migration of the therapeutic engineered MSC. Both in vitro and in vivo findings demonstrate the feasibility of LPLNP-PPT/TRAIL engineered MSC for inducing apoptosis of glioblastoma cells. This work first establishes an LPLNP-based dual-functional platform for cell engineering and provides us implications for GBM-related diagnosis and therapy.