Mesenchymal stem cells: a promising targeted-delivery vehicle in cancer gene therapy

The targeting drug delivery systems (TDDS) have attracted extensive attention of researchers in recent years. More and more drug/gene targeted delivery carriers, such as liposome, magnetic nanoparticles, ligand-conjugated nanoparticles, microbubbles, etc., have been developed and under investigation for their application. However, the currently investigated drug/gene carriers have several disadvantages, which limit their future use in clinical practice. Therefore, design and development of novel drug/gene delivery vehicles has been a hot area of research. Recent studies have shown the ability of mesenchymal stem cells (MSCs) to migrate towards and engraft into the tumor sites, which make them a great hope for efficient targeted-delivery vehicles in cancer gene therapy. In this review article, we examine the promising of using mesenchymal stem cells as a targeted-delivery vehicle for cancer gene therapy, and summarize various challenges and concerns regarding these therapies.