title: Mesenchymal stem cells: a promising targeted-delivery vehicle in cancer gene therapy.
abstract: 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.
authors.affiliation: Institute of Pharmaceutics, College of Pharmaceutical Sciences, Zhejiang University, PR China.
authors.forename: Yu-Lan
authors.initials: YL
authors.lastname: Hu
authors.forename: Ying-Hua
authors.initials: YH
authors.lastname: Fu
authors.forename: Yasuhiko
authors.initials: Y
authors.lastname: Tabata
authors.forename: Jian-Qing
authors.initials: JQ
authors.lastname: Gao
mesh_terms: D000818:Animals; D004337:Drug Carriers / Q000737:chemistry; D018390:Gene Targeting / Q000379:methods*; D018014:Gene Transfer Techniques; D005822:Genetic Vectors; D006801:Humans; D059630:Mesenchymal Stem Cells / Q000166:cytology* / Q000378:metabolism; D053758:Nanoparticles / Q000737:chemistry; D009369:Neoplasms / Q000235:genetics / Q000628:therapy*; D011994:Recombinant Proteins / Q000235:genetics; D014162:Transfection
chemical_list: D004337:Drug Carriers; D011994:Recombinant Proteins