ABSTRACT
BACKGROUND: Umbilical cord mesenchymal stem cells (UC-MSCs) are a group of cells that have self-renewal, highly proliferative and multidrug differentiation potential. The properties of UC-MSCs and their tumor tropism make them an ideal tool for glioma cell therapy. These cells can act by paracrine or as a delivery system for genes and drugs. It has been demonstrated that UC-MSCs can inhibit the growth of glioma and improve the survival after transplantation into the brain. OBJECTIVE: To summarize the molecular mechanisms and safety of UC-MSCs in the treatment of glioma and to provide a useful reference for further research. METHODS: We searched the PubMed and CNKI databases from 2000 to 2017 with the English terms of "glioma; umbilical cord mesenchymal stem cells" and the Chinese terms of "glioma; umbilical cord mesenchymal stem cells; safety; molecular mechanism". Based on the inclusion and exclusion criteria, 55 articles were finally reserved for review. RESULTS AND CONCLUSION: UC-MSCs have obvious effect on treating glioma. These cells can treat glioma through homing mechanism and paracrine mechanism as gene carrier and co-culture. Moreover, UC-MSCs have certain safety in the treatment of glioma.