title: Urine-derived stem cells: A novel and versatile progenitor source for cell-based therapy and regenerative medicine.
abstract: Engineered functional organs or tissues, created with autologous somatic cells and seeded on biodegradable or hydrogel scaffolds, have been developed for use in individuals with tissue damage suffered from congenital disorders, infection, irradiation, or cancer. However, in those patients, abnormal cells obtained by biopsy from the compromised tissue could potentially contaminate the engineered tissues. Thus, an alternative cell source for construction of the neo-organ or functional recovery of the injured or diseased tissues would be useful. Recently, we have found stem cells existing in the urine. These cells are highly expandable, and have self-renewal capacity, paracrine properties, and multi-differentiation potential. As a novel cell source, urine-derived stem cells (USCs) provide advantages for cell therapy and tissue engineering applications in regeneration of various tissues, particularly in the genitourinary tract, because they originate from the urinary tract system. Importantly, USCs can be obtained via a non-invasive, simple, and low-cost approach and induced with high efficiency to differentiate into three dermal cell lineages.
authors.affiliation: Department of Urology, Children's Hospital of Chongqing Medical University, Chongqing 400014, China ; Wake Forest Institute for Regenerative Medicine, Wake Forest School of Medicine, Winston-Salem, NC 27101, USA.
authors.forename: Deying
authors.initials: D
authors.lastname: Zhang
authors.affiliation: Department of Urology, Children's Hospital of Chongqing Medical University, Chongqing 400014, China.
authors.forename: Guanghui
authors.initials: G
authors.lastname: Wei
authors.affiliation: Wake Forest Institute for Regenerative Medicine, Wake Forest School of Medicine, Winston-Salem, NC 27101, USA ; Department of General Surgery, Affiliated Hospital of Nantong University, Nantong, China.
authors.forename: Peng
authors.initials: P
authors.lastname: Li
authors.affiliation: Center for Bioinformatics and Systems Biology, Department of Radiology, Wake Forest School of Medicine, Winston-Salem, NC 27157, USA.
authors.forename: Xiaobo
authors.initials: X
authors.lastname: Zhou
authors.affiliation: Wake Forest Institute for Regenerative Medicine, Wake Forest School of Medicine, Winston-Salem, NC 27101, USA.
authors.forename: Yuanyuan
authors.initials: Y
authors.lastname: Zhang
keywords: Cell therapy; Genitourinary tract; Stem cells; Tissue regeneration; Urine