A novel use of periostin, and more particularly a composition for inducing the migration of neural stem cells, which contains periostin or a periostin-secreting cell as an active ingredient, based on the discovery of a novel function of periostin that induces the migration of neural stem cells. Periostin induces the migration of neural stem cells, and thus the composition for inducing the migration of neural stem cells, which contains periostin or periostin-secreting cells as an active ingredient, can be used in various applications based on neural stem cells. A pharmaceutical composition containing suicide gene-expressing neural stem cells and periostin allows the neural stem cells to effectively migrate to tumor tissues, and thus can be used as a cell therapeutic agent for treating cancer. Also, the pharmaceutical composition containing neural stem cells and periostin has improved effects on the stimulation of regeneration of nerve cells and the treatment of neural diseases.