| Drug resistance in cancer, especially in leukemia, creates a dilemma in treatment
planning. Consequently, studies related to the mechanisms underlying drug resistance,
the molecular pathways involved in this phenomenon, and alternate therapies have attracted
the attention of researchers. Among a variety of therapeutic modalities, mesenchymal
stem cells (MSCs) are of special interest due to their potential clinical use.
Therapies involving MSCs are showing increasing promise in cancer treatment and anticancer
drug screening applications; however, results have been inconclusive, possibly
due to the heterogeneity of MSC populations. Most recently, the effect of MSCs on different
types of cancer, such as hematologic malignancies, their mechanisms, sources of
MSCs, and its advantages and disadvantages have been discussed. There are many proposed
mechanisms describing the effects of MSCs in hematologic malignancies; however,
the most commonly-accepted mechanism is that MSCs induce tumor cell cycle
arrest. This review explains the anti-tumorigenic effects of MSCs through the suppression
of tumor cell proliferation in hematological malignancies, especially in acute myeloid
leukemia. |