title: Urine as a source of stem cells.
abstract: Traditionally, clinicians and researchers have relied on a skin biopsy or blood extraction as relatively accessible supplies for in vitro cell expansion and biological studies. Perhaps surprisingly, limited attention has been given to a totally noninvasive source, urine, which eliminates the discomfort associated with other procedures. This may arise from the perception that urine is merely a body waste. Yet, the analysis of urine is a longstanding fundamental test for diagnostic purposes and nowadays there is growing interest in using urine for detecting biomarkers. In addition, recent work including ours reinforces the idea that urine contains a variety of viable cell types with relevant applications. In this review, we describe those cell types and their potential uses.
authors.affiliation: Key Laboratory of Regenerative Biology, Chinese Academy of Sciences, South China Institute for Stem Cell Biology and Regenerative Medicine, Guangzhou Institutes of Biomedicine and Health, Guangzhou, 510530, China, christina@gibh.ac.cn.
authors.forename: Christina
authors.initials: C
authors.lastname: Benda
authors.forename: Ting
authors.initials: T
authors.lastname: Zhou
authors.forename: Xianming
authors.initials: X
authors.lastname: Wang
authors.forename: Weihua
authors.initials: W
authors.lastname: Tian
authors.forename: Johannes
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Grillari
authors.forename: Hung-Fat
authors.initials: HF
authors.lastname: Tse
authors.forename: Regina
authors.initials: R
authors.lastname: Grillari-Voglauer
authors.forename: Duanqing
authors.initials: D
authors.lastname: Pei
authors.forename: Miguel A
authors.initials: MA
authors.lastname: Esteban
mesh_terms: D006801:Humans; D057026:Induced Pluripotent Stem Cells / Q000166:cytology*; D013234:Stem Cells / Q000166:cytology*; D014556:Urine / Q000166:cytology*