Research progress of gene recombinant mesenchymal stem cells as tumor targeting delivery vehicles

The applications of targeting gene delivery systems in tumor therapy have attracted extensive attention of researchers in recent years, as they can selectively deliver the therapeutic gene to tumor sites, improve the success rate of gene therapy and reduce the side effects.  Therefore, design and development of novel gene delivery vehicles have been a hot area of current research.  Recent studies have shown that mesenchymal stem cells (MSCs) have the ability to migrate towards and engraft into the tumor sites.  Therefore, these properties make them a great hope for ef?cient targeted-delivery vehicles in cancer gene therapy.  In this review, we examine the promising of utilization of MSCs as a targeted-delivery vehicle for cancer gene therapy, and summarize various challenges and concerns regarding this therapy.