Background

Lung cancer is one of the most challenging diseases to treat. In the past decades standard therapy including surgery, chemo- and radiation therapy, alone or in combination has not changed the high mortality rate and poor prognosis. In recent years, mesenchymal stem cells (MSCs) have emerged as putative therapeutic tools due to their intrinsic tumor tropism, anti-tumor and immunoregulatory properties. MSCs release biomolecules that are thought to exert the same beneficial effects as their cellular counterparts and, as such, they may offer practical possibilities of using MSC-secreted products. Owing to their innate affinity to home to tumor sites, MSCs have also gained interest as selective vehicles for the delivery of anti-cancer agents. However, MSCs are also known to confer pro-oncogenic effects, rendering them into double-sword weapons against neoplastic diseases.

Conclusions

Here, we present published data on the cell- and secretome-based therapeutic competences of MSCs, as well as on their potential as engineered delivery vectors for the treatment of lung cancer. Despite the controversial role of MSCs in the context of lung cancer therapy, current findings support hopeful perspectives to harness the potential of MSC-based regimens that may augment current treatment modalities in lung cancer.

中文翻译：

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间充质干细胞在肺癌中的治疗潜力：益处、风险和挑战。

背景

肺癌是最难治疗的疾病之一。在过去几十年中，包括手术、化学和放射疗法在内的标准疗法，单独或联合使用并没有改变高死亡率和不良预后。近年来，间充质干细胞 (MSCs) 由于其固有的肿瘤向性、抗肿瘤和免疫调节特性而成为公认的治疗工具。MSC 释放的生物分子被认为具有与其细胞对应物相同的有益作用，因此，它们可能为使用 MSC 分泌的产品提供实际可能性。由于它们对肿瘤部位的先天亲和力，MSCs 也作为用于递送抗癌剂的选择性载体引起了人们的兴趣。然而，众所周知，MSCs 还具有促癌作用，

结论

在这里，我们展示了关于 MSC 的基于细胞和分泌组的治疗能力的已发表数据，以及它们作为工程化递送载体治疗肺癌的潜力。尽管 MSC 在肺癌治疗中的作用存在争议，但目前的研究结果支持了利用基于 MSC 的方案的潜力的有希望的观点，这些方案可能会增强当前的肺癌治疗方式。