Since a significant fraction of CAF in tumor tissue are derived from mesenchymal stem cells (MSC), an alternative strategy is to develop cell-based therapies by targeted delivery of therapeutic cells, i.e. autologous MSC-derived fibroblasts pre-engineered ‘ex vivo’ to either carry high Notch1 activity using methods described above or overexpress WISP1, into tumor tissue. The gene discussed is NOTCH1; the disease is neoplasm.