Stem cell-based therapies for cancer treatment: separating hope from hype

Abstract

Stem cell-based therapies are emerging as a promising strategy to tackle cancer. Multiple stem cell types have been shown to exhibit inherent tropism towards tumours. Moreover, when engineered to express therapeutic agents, these pathotropic delivery vehicles can effectively target sites of malignancy. This perspective considers the current status of stem cell-based treatments for cancer and provides a rationale for translating the most promising preclinical studies into the clinic.

Modularized Extracellular Vesicles: The Dawn of Prospective Personalized and Precision Medicine

“…One typical representative stem cell population, mesenchymal stem cells (MSCs), have been used in the treatment of diverse pathological conditions and are preferred because the procedure for their isolation and culture is easy, they can be isolated from a variety of tissues, including bone marrow, adipose, placenta, and umbilical cord blood, and their probability of neoplastic transformation or abnormal differentiation is relatively low 78, 79. In recent years, the therapeutic properties of MSCs have been considered to be due to the therapeutic effect of the secretome, especially EVs 80.…”

Transient loading of CD34⁺ hematopoietic progenitor cells with polystyrene nanoparticles

“…2,3 The use of NPs for HSC-and HPC-based (and concurrent and/or associated gene) therapies has received considerable attention, as it can circumvent efficacy and safety issues of the classical vehicles. 4,5 Owing to their small size, NPs possess new chemical and physical properties as compared to the corresponding bulk material. As NPs are of the same order of magnitude as biomolecules and viruses, they are capable of entering the cells and interact with the cellular machinery.…”

Advances in the research of basic study and clinical application of adipose-derived mesenchymal stem cells

“…The enzyme can be applied into nontoxic precursor drugs in tumor tissues, convert to a therapeutic cytotoxic drug and kill adjacent tumor cells. [48] Researchers have also transfected the gene, expressed yeast cytosine deaminase-uracil phosphate ribose, transformed ADSC of the enzyme, and combined tumor treatment precursor drug 5-flurocytosine. Glioma in rats was successfully cured.…”