Glioblastoma multiforme (GBM) is the most malignant subtype of brain cancer. However, current clinical treatments
for GBM are limited in effectiveness and often impose additional side effects on patients. Here, we developed targeted
anti-cancer therapy (TAT) using neural stem cells (NSC) as delivery agent to transport anti-cancer compounds directly to
GBM in vitro. Anti-cancer active compounds: Tannic acid (TA) and gallic acid (GA) were extracted from local medicinal
plant - Quercus infectoria (QI) using soxhlet technique with 100% methanol (QI-100%) or 70% methanol (QI-70%)
solvent. Concentration of TA and GA measured using HPLC were 72.56 and 43.66 μg/mL in QI-100%, while in QI-70%,
the concentrations were 72.41 and 43.31 μg/mL, respectively. Cytotoxicity effects of QI-100% and QI-70% on human
GBM cell line (DBTRG-05MG), human NSC line (H9-hNSC) and human normal brain glial cell line (SVG-p12) (as negative
control) were determined using MTT assay. Both QI-100% and QI-70% showed anti-proliferative properties against
DBTRG-05MG at IC50, but not on H9-hNSC and SVG-p12. Taken together, data indicated that both QI extracts contained
TA and GA which exhibit anti-proliferative effect specifically on cancerous cells only. Next, QI-treated H9-hNSC was
seeded in a modified Boyden chamber for 12 h to investigate its migration capacity towards DBTRG-05MG. The result
showed that H9-hNSC migrated towards DBTRG-05MG with 4-folds higher capacity compared to control. In addition,
the migration of QI-100% treated H9-hNSC successfully reduced the number of DBTRG-05MG, indicating the anti-GBM
potential of these cells after migration. In conclusion, NSC could be a specific anti-cancer compound delivery agent for
GBM, reducing unwanted side effects on patients.