Umbilical cord mesenchymal stem cells and breast cancer: a good therapeutic candidate or not? A minireview

Breast cancer (BC), as the most common cancer among women, affects a great number of subjects around the world. This heterogenic disease is divided into several types and subtypes, and each subtype has various phenotypes and genotypes. Against BC, several options have been proposed, such as surgery, radiotherapy, and chemotherapeutic agents. However, these approaches may have detrimental effects on health and life quality of patients. Hence, harnessing a therapeutic tool with high effectiveness and low side effects is required. Recently, mesenchymal stem cells (MSCs) have created a new window to treat various disorders, like cancer, and among these, umbilical cord (UC)-derived MSCs have acquired much interest due to their advantages. Therefore, in this narrative review, the influences of UC-derived MSCs on BC were reviewed and summarized with a focus on the molecular mechanisms involved in its pathogenesis and treatment.