Greta Butkienė, PhD

TITLE: Mesenchymal Stem Cells: Taxi for Efficient Delivery of Theranostic Agents

Currently, various nanoparticles are investigated to fight cancer and significantly improve patient outcomes. There has been a lot of research efforts devoted for theranostic nanomaterials, which could be used for both cancer diagnosis and treatment. Despite great achievements in nanotechnology, insufficient delivery of nanoparticles to the tumours remains a significant barrier, which limits their application in medicine. To address this issue, we explore human skin mesenchymal stem cells (MSCs) as nanoparticle delivery vehicles. MSCs have anti-tumour and immunomodulatory properties as well as the ability to migrate towards cancer cells due to chemoattractant gradient and are involved in wound healing. In our work we combine theranostic nanoparticles with tumour specific transportation using MSCs to create a novel treatment method for cancer.