Concise Review: Mesenchymal Stem Cell-Based Drug Delivery: The Good, the Bad, the Ugly, and the Promise.

ABSTRACT: The development of mesenchymal stem cells (MSCs) as cell-based drug delivery vectors for numerous clinical indications, including cancer, has significant promise. However, a considerable challenge for effective translation of these approaches is the limited tumor tropism and broad biodistribution observed using conventional MSCs, which raises concerns for toxicity to nontarget peripheral tissues (i.e., the bad). Consequently, there are a variety of synthetic engineering platforms in active development to improve tumor-selective targeting via increased homing efficiency and/or specificity of drug activation, some of which are already being evaluated clinically (i.e., the good). Unfortunately, the lack of robust quantification and widespread adoption of standardized methodologies with high s

SUBMITTER: Krueger TEG 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC6127224 | biostudies-literature | 2018 Sep

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature