Hi Saleh, although MSC appear to be useful in the treatment of a large number of conditions I would hesitate to use them as delivery vehicles in cancer treatment; mainly because the MSC themselves (and the exosomes they produce) may actually promote cancer progression.

See: "Bone marrow-derived mesenchymal stem cells promote colorectal cancer progression through paracrine neuregulin 1/HER3 signalling" Boeck et al 2014.

"BM mesenchymal stromal cell–derived exosomes facilitate multiple myeloma progression" Roccaro et al 2013

"Mesenchymal stem cell secretome and regenerative therapy after cancer" (Review) Zimmerlin et al 2013.

As well as possibly promoting cancer progression it appears they can even give resistance to chemotherapy in some cancer cells " Mesenchymal stem cells contribute to the chemoresistance of hepatocellular carcinoma cells in inflammatory environment by inducing autophagy" Han et al 2014.

Indeed this kind of makes sense considering that the MSC excrete factors involved in wound healing (VEGF, HGF etc.) as well as in immune suppression (PEG2, IDO etc. and cancer progression/development can be seen as a type of immune failure).

 There may be many more papers out there on this (these are just the ones I had in my lit. folders).

I guess (if one wanted) one could "engineer" a different cell (such as a dermal fibroblast) to give it a MSC-like "immuno-privilege" without the associated secretory profile of the MSC.

Sorry I can't be more help,

Gary

Hi Saleh, although MSC appear to be useful in the treatment of a large number of conditions I would hesitate to use them as delivery vehicles in cancer treatment; mainly because the MSC themselves (and the exosomes they produce) may actually promote cancer progression.

See: "Bone marrow-derived mesenchymal stem cells promote colorectal cancer progression through paracrine neuregulin 1/HER3 signalling" Boeck et al 2014.

"BM mesenchymal stromal cell–derived exosomes facilitate multiple myeloma progression" Roccaro et al 2013

"Mesenchymal stem cell secretome and regenerative therapy after cancer" (Review) Zimmerlin et al 2013.

As well as possibly promoting cancer progression it appears they can even give resistance to chemotherapy in some cancer cells " Mesenchymal stem cells contribute to the chemoresistance of hepatocellular carcinoma cells in inflammatory environment by inducing autophagy" Han et al 2014.

Indeed this kind of makes sense considering that the MSC excrete factors involved in wound healing (VEGF, HGF etc.) as well as in immune suppression (PEG2, IDO etc. and cancer progression/development can be seen as a type of immune failure).

 There may be many more papers out there on this (these are just the ones I had in my lit. folders).

I guess (if one wanted) one could "engineer" a different cell (such as a dermal fibroblast) to give it a MSC-like "immuno-privilege" without the associated secretory profile of the MSC.

Sorry I can't be more help,

Gary

Dear Pr. Saleh, I would like to go with Dr Carley. Mesenchymal stem cells, while it has really worked in some cancers and brought remarkable results when treated with either cells or conditioned media or microvesicles, it has also shown plasticity to convert into "cancer helpers" in the tumor microenvironment too, which is unfortunately more in literature than the former. A recent article "Tumour cell derived extracellular vesicles interact with mesenchymal stem cells to modulate the microenvironment and enhance cholangiocarcinoma growth" is published which is in accord to the latter. 

In addition to Dr Carley's answer, enucleated MSC carrying anticancer drugs and engineered  to express the known homing factors towards tumor can be explored or modulation of tumor microenvironment provided both inhibtitory and differentiating signals, could be a possible mode in the treatment of cancer.  

Two excellent answers have been already submitted, so that I dare to write the possibility that MSC attenuates the malignant potential by promoting the survival of cancer stem cells (CSCs). MSCs cause aberrant expression of microRNAs in CSCs in breast cancer including miR199a. This miRNA  enhances the stemness of CSCs. FOXP2, one of the forkhead transcription factors necessary for the acquisition of speech and language potential during the brain development. The MSC-induced miR199a-FOXP2 axis results in the CSC propagation, tumor initiation, and distant/ latent metastasis (DOI: http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.stem.2014.10.001). However, as far as I know, it still remains to be unknown whether exosome or direct cell-to-cell interaction is the predominant factor in the MSC-induced malignant potential acquisition.  

Salam alaikum to all .

Thank you for answer , and this is exactly reason to stirred this topic , these cells have ability to promote cancer progression and resistance to chemotherapy . Currently, the researches dealt as a treatment for cancer cells, So I would like to discuss this research that indicates to MSCs  or MSCs engineered  as a new trend for cancer therapy. and , what are the theories and protocols used in this .

this links to some these articles .

1-Mesenchymal stem cells for anti-cancer drug delivery 

http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/23688246

2-Mesenchymal stem cells engineered for cancer therapy.

http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/21740940

3-Potential implications of mesenchymal stem cells in cancer therapy.

http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/21396770

Regards

4-Mesenchymal stem cells: a new promise in anticancer therapy.

http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/20670160

From my experience in a couple of rat cancer models MSC's fuel the fire and are incorporated into the tumour often increasing tumour growth rate 2-3 times.

If you I.v inject MSC's they will go to the tumour as its inflammatory and again be absorbed into the tumour.

C

Dear Saleh,

Your answer is very complex and at the same time requires a lots of mental churning...My answer is little bit in contradiction to above answers. Yes, stem cells can be used to treat cancers. Actually its my wish to use them as a weapon against cancer cells as they can access cancer cells very well in the body due to a synergistic growth stimulation between stem cells and cancer cells (enought citations have been provided by the people above) and that acts like a chemoattractant for these cells to reach at the site of tumour. So basically same property which is beneficial for the tumour cells can be used against them. 

As one replier answered that they differentiate into any cell type so that can be benificial in terms of normal cell regeneration and to replenish the dying cells

Stem cells can be loaded with cytotoxic drugs and can be used like immunotoxins-no need to load with specific reeptors which will attach to cancer cells as they will already reach to cancer site due to a symbiotic relationship between two..

You might be wondering for a literature proof so that's make the top 10 hot research publications of world this year from Dr. Mick Bhatia who has used MSCs as a tool kit to treat neuroblastoma 

http://fhs.mcmaster.ca/main/canada_chairs/human_stem_cell_biology_chair.html

Hope it helps..!

MSCs in the ascites of ovarian cancer patients increases the number of spheroids predominantly composed of cancer stem cells (CSCs) with CD44(high)/CD133(positive)/ALDH1(high). The transplantation of SKOV-III (human ovarian cancer cell line) with MSCs purified from ascites results in the enhanced tumorigenesis and angiogenesis. Further, it is notable that some of MSCs exhibit differentiation into adipocytes and cartilage. From the perspective of molecular machinery, MSCs suppress BMP signal of ovarian cancer cells, thereby phosphorylated Smad2 in the nucleus relatively activates TGF-beta signaling pathway. Activated TGF-beta induces epithelial-mesenchymal transition (EMT), which is mainly why CSCs increases in number in ascites. Collectively, the administration of Noggin or Catumaxomab (anti-CD3 and EpCAM neutralizing antibody) is effective for the treatment of advanced ovarian cancer patients accompanied by ascites.

[Reference]

Karen McLean／J Clin Invest. 2011 Jul 1. pii: 45273. doi: 10.1172/JCI45273.

hi dr saleh. some type  of mesenchymal stem cell such as placental derived mesenchymal stem cell reveals promising result in cancer therapy. in some experiment use of this cell as a vehicle for transfer of antiangiogenic product to tumor site have a  efficient result. for instance i attended you to this paper.