Considering the high incidence and mortality rate of gastrointestinal cancers (GIs) worldwide and partial success of the current available GI cancer treatments, there is a necessity to discover more effective approaches in cancer therapy. The failure in conventional therapies seems to be related to the resistance of cancer cells to chemotherapy, inability to target tumor cells especially in metastatic cancers, deficient drug concentrations in tumor sites, and unfavorable effects on pivotal non-malignant bodily tissues following systemic administration. In this context, we need an appropriate carrier for the delivery of therapeutic agents specifically to the GI cancer site. Mesenchymal stem cells (MSCs), a prominent cell-based strategy for cancer treatment, overcome various cancer therapy limitations and could be used as vehicles to deliver many anticancer agents such as therapeutic genes (DNA or interference RNA), oncolytic viruses, and chemotherapeutic or nanoparticle drugs. Moreover, secreted molecules of unmodified MSCs lead to deregulation of several proteins and different signaling pathways eradicating cancer cells. In the present review, at first, we overview the characteristics and utility of MSCs in cancer therapy, secondly, we discuss the application of naïve MSCs and utilization of MSCs in the delivery of therapeutic agents in GI cancer therapy and, finally, more information about harnessing of genetically modified MSCs in GI cancer treatment will be presented.
Keywords: Cancer therapy; Gastrointestinal cancers; Gene therapy; Genetic engineering; Mesenchymal stem cells.