Endothelial Progenitor Cells as Shuttle of Anticancer Agents

Cell therapies are treatments in which stem or progenitor cells are induced to differentiate into the specific cell type required to repair damaged or destroyed tissues. Following their discovery, endothelial progenitor cells (EPCs) have stimulated a worldwide interest as possible vehicles to perform an autologous cell-therapy of tumors. Taking into account the tumor-homing properties of EPCs, two different approaches to control cancer progression have been pursued by combining the cell-based therapy with gene therapy or with nanomedicine. The first one is based on the possibility to engineer EPCs to express different transgenes, the second one on the capacity of EPCs to uptake nanomaterials. Here we will review the most important progresses covering the following issues: the characterization of bona fide endothelial progenitor cells, their role in tumor vascularisation and metastasis, and preclinical data about their use in cell-based tumor therapy, considering anti-angiogenic, suicide, immune-stimulating and oncolytic virus gene-therapy. The mixed approach of EPC cell therapy and nanomedicine will be discussed in terms of plasmonic-dependent thermoablation and molecular imaging.