Abstract

Metastatic cancer cells generally cannot be eradicated using traditional surgical or chemoradiotherapeutic strategies, and disease recurrence is extremely common following treatment. On the other hand, therapies employing stem cells are showing increasing promise in the treatment of cancer. Stem cells can function as novel delivery platforms by homing to and targeting both primary and metastatic tumor foci. Stem cells engineered to stably express various cytotoxic agents decrease tumor volumes and extend survival in preclinical animal models. They have also been employed as virus and nanoparticle carriers to enhance primary therapeutic efficacies and relieve treatment side effects. Additionally, stem cells can be applied in regenerative medicine, immunotherapy, cancer stem cell-targeted therapy, and anticancer drug screening applications. However, while using stem cells to treat human cancers appears technically feasible, challenges such as treatment durability and tumorigenesis necessitate further study to improve therapeutic performance and applicability. This review focuses on recent progress toward stem cell-based cancer treatments, and summarizes treatment advantages, opportunities, and shortcomings, potentially helping to refine future trials and facilitate the translation from experimental to clinical studies.

Highlights

  • Cancer is a leading cause of death in both developed and developing countries, and is an increasing medical burden worldwide, due to population growth and aging

  • Stem cells can function as novel delivery platforms by homing to and targeting both primary and metastatic tumor foci

  • This review focuses on recent progress toward stem cell-based cancer treatments, and summarizes treatment advantages, opportunities, and shortcomings, potentially helping to refine future trials and facilitate the translation from experimental to clinical studies

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Summary

Introduction

Cancer is a leading cause of death in both developed and developing countries, and is an increasing medical burden worldwide, due to population growth and aging. Therapies employing stem cells are showing increasing promise in the treatment of cancer. Stem cells have unique properties, such as migration toward cancer cells, secretion of bioactive factors, and immunosuppression, which promote tumor targeting and circumvent obstacles currently impeding gene therapy strategies.

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