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Stem cell-based therapies for cancer treatment: separating hope from hype

Nature Reviews Cancer volume 14, pages 683–691 (2014)Cite this article

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Abstract

Stem cell-based therapies are emerging as a promising strategy to tackle cancer. Multiple stem cell types have been shown to exhibit inherent tropism towards tumours. Moreover, when engineered to express therapeutic agents, these pathotropic delivery vehicles can effectively target sites of malignancy. This perspective considers the current status of stem cell-based treatments for cancer and provides a rationale for translating the most promising preclinical studies into the clinic.

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Figure 1: Using stem cells (SCs) to promote tumour cell death.
Figure 2: Potentiating stem cell (SC) efficacy.

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Acknowledgements

The authors apologize to all colleagues whose work could not be cited owing to space limitations. This work was supported by grants R01CA138922, R01CA173077, and the James S. McDonnell Foundation.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Molecular Neurotherapy and Imaging Laboratory and the Department of Radiology, Massachusetts General Hospital, Harvard Medical School, Boston, 02114, Massachusetts, USA

    Daniel W. Stuckey

  2. Molecular Neurotherapy and Imaging Laboratory and the Departments of Radiology and Neurology, Massachusetts General Hospital, Harvard Medical School, Boston, Massachusetts 02114, USA,

    Khalid Shah

  3. and the Harvard Stem Cell Institute, Harvard University, Cambridge, Massachusetts 02138, USA.,

    Khalid Shah

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  1. Daniel W. Stuckey
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  2. Khalid Shah
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Correspondence to Khalid Shah.

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Stuckey, D., Shah, K. Stem cell-based therapies for cancer treatment: separating hope from hype. Nat Rev Cancer 14, 683–691 (2014). https://doi.org/10.1038/nrc3798

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