A review of the immunomodulatory properties of mesenchymal stem cells and their derived extracellular vesicles in small-cell and non-small-cell lung cancer cells.

Among the most challenging diseases to treat is lung cancer (LC). While immunotherapy has a checkered history, it has lately shown great promise in the treatment of LC, and interest in this promising new approach is on the rise around the globe. Immunotherapy using mesenchymal stem cells (MSCs) is gaining popularity. Regenerative medicine, cell therapy, and immune modulation are three areas that have shown significant interest in MSCs. More than that, MSCs have recently attracted attention as potential anti-cancer drug delivery vehicles due to their inherent ability to go home to tumor locations. Making MSCs a double-edged sword in the fight against neoplastic illnesses, they are also known to impart pro-oncogenic properties. Additionally, multiple studies have proposed extracellular vesicles (EVs) secreted by MSCs as a potential therapeutic agent or method for delivering anti-cancer drugs. However, there has been conflicting evidence regarding the impact of MSCs or MSC-EV on the behavior of cancer cells, and the exact mechanism for this effect is still unknown. Our research has focused on MSCs and their key characteristics, such as their immunomodulatory capabilities for cancer therapy. Our research has also explored the potential of MSCs and their derivatives to treat small-cell and non-small-cell lung cancers (NSCLC and SCLC, respectively) by leveraging MSCs' immunomodulatory characteristics. At the end of this article, we covered the pros and cons of this therapy procedure, as well as what researchers want to do in the future to make it more suitable for clinical application in LC treatment.