Psc-Dependent Stem Cell Engineering for Management of Cancer and Its Current Challenges

Stem cells are not only used for regenerative medicine, but also considered as a useful tool for cancer therapy. Pluripotent stem cells are promising tools in these kinds of therapies because of their stemness properties (that includes unlimited self-renewal & ability to differentiate into all cell types in the body). After discovery, the potentials of induced Pluripotent stem cells (iPSCs) have been explored by several researchers to unravel the molecular mechanism responsible for cancer initiation and progression. A rare population of cells within tumor, known as Cancer stem cells (CSCs), exhibit stemness & phenotypic plasticity that are mainly responsible for resistance to chemotherapy, metastasis, radiotherapy, cancer development & tumor relapse. Off late, stem cells are being engineered to carry therapeutic reagents to target the tumor sites. Cancer vaccines based on knowledge of CSCs have been studied and applied for cancer treatment. Further applications of this technology include high-throughput drug screening, epigenetic reprogramming of cancer cells to normal, immunotherapy & regenerative cell therapies. iPSCs have been used to create active T cells to support cancer immunotherapy. The similarities between CSCs and Pluripotent stem cells (PSCs) can provide an appropriate source of CSC specific antigens by cultivation of PSCs which could help in the development of prophylactic & therapeutic cancer vaccine. This review discusses induced pluripotent stem cells, stem cell applications in transplantation, cancer stem cells, comparison between PSCs to CSCs, potential of stem cells engineering to revolutionize cancer treatment and current challenges on clinical applications.