Review
Copyright ©The Author(s) 2020. Published by Baishideng Publishing Group Inc. All rights reserved.
World J Gastrointest Oncol. Apr 15, 2020; 12(4): 365-382
Published online Apr 15, 2020. doi: 10.4251/wjgo.v12.i4.365
Efficacy of mesenchymal stem cells in the treatment of gastrointestinal malignancies
Jian-Nan Li, Wei Li, Lan-Qing Cao, Ning Liu, Kai Zhang
Jian-Nan Li, Wei Li, Kai Zhang, Department of General Surgery, The Second Hospital of Jilin University, Changchun 130041, Jilin Province, China
Lan-Qing Cao, Department of Pathology, The Second Hospital of Jilin University, Changchun 130041, Jilin Province, China
Ning Liu, Department of Central Laboratory, The Second Hospital of Jilin University, Changchun 130041, Jilin Province, China
Author contributions: Li JN, Li W and Cao LQ performed literature research; Li JN, Li W and Liu N wrote the manuscript and performed the revision and approval of the final version; Zhang K designed research, coordinated and corrected the writing of the paper; Li JN and Li W contributed equally to this study.
Conflict-of-interest statement: There is no conflict of interest associated with any of the senior author or other coauthors contributed their efforts in this manuscript. All the Authors have no conflict of interest related to the manuscript.
Open-Access: This article is an open-access article that was selected by an in-house editor and fully peer-reviewed by external reviewers. It is distributed in accordance with the Creative Commons Attribution NonCommercial (CC BY-NC 4.0) license, which permits others to distribute, remix, adapt, build upon this work non-commercially, and license their derivative works on different terms, provided the original work is properly cited and the use is non-commercial. See: http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc/4.0/
Corresponding author: Kai Zhang, MD, PhD, Chief Doctor, Professor, Department of General Surgery, The Second Hospital of Jilin University, 218 Ziqiang Street, Changchun 130041, Jilin Province, China. zhang_kai@jlu.edu.cn
Received: January 2, 2020
Peer-review started: January 2, 2020
First decision: February 18, 2020
Revised: March 3, 2020
Accepted: March 26, 2020
Article in press: March 26, 2020
Published online: April 15, 2020
Core Tip

Core tip: Mesenchymal stem cells (MSCs) possess immune privileged nature, tumor homing feature, and multi-lineage differentiation ability. Gastrointestinal (GI) malignancies are the major causes of cancer-related death worldwide. The interactions of MSCs and GI cancer cells in specific conditions have attracted more and more attentions. In this review, we would like to introduce the characteristics of MSCs and analyse the effects of MSCs on GI malignancies. In addition, we also provide our perspectives on the reason why MSCs may play different roles in GI malignancies and further research directions to increase the treatment efficacy of MSCs on GI malignancies.