Mesenchymal stem cells to treat disease

Gene Therapy had an interesting series of review articles recently on the potential of mesenchymal (adult) stem cells.

Therapeutic potential of genetically modified mesenchymal stem cells

Stem and progenitor cell-mediated tumor selective gene therapy (abstract)

Endothelial progenitor cells for cancer gene therapy (abstract)

Gene-modified bone marrow cell therapy for prostate cancer (abstract)

And for those who want a little more depth -

Inflammation and tumor microenvironments: defining the migratory itinerary of mesenchymal stem cells (abstract)

Cancer treatments would benefit greatly from targeted therapy, and developing controllable stem cell populations would such a boon for many diseases. Just think - no immune response because they are your own cells, no radiation sickness or adverse drug reactions, and no systemic damage only destruction of the targeted cell population.