title: Silk Fibroin Scaffolds for Urologic Tissue Engineering.
abstract: Urologic tissue engineering efforts have been largely focused on bladder and urethral defect repair. The current surgical gold standard for treatment of poorly compliant pathological bladders and severe urethral stricture disease is enterocystoplasty and onlay urethroplasty with autologous tissue, respectively. The complications associated with autologous tissue use and harvesting have led to efforts to develop tissue-engineered alternatives. Natural and synthetic materials have been used with varying degrees of success, but none has proved consistently reliable for urologic tissue defect repair in humans. Silk fibroin (SF) scaffolds have been tested in bladder and urethral repair because of their favorable biomechanical properties including structural strength, elasticity, biodegradability, and biocompatibility. SF scaffolds have been used in multiple animal models and have demonstrated robust regeneration of smooth muscle and urothelium. The pre-clinical data involving SF scaffolds in urologic defect repair are encouraging and suggest that they hold potential for future clinical use.
authors.affiliation: Urological Diseases Research Center, Boston Children's Hospital, Boston, MA, 02115, USA. bryan.sack@childrens.harvard.edu.|Department of Surgery, Harvard Medical School, Boston, MA, 02115, USA. bryan.sack@childrens.harvard.edu.
authors.forename: Bryan S
authors.initials: BS
authors.lastname: Sack
authors.affiliation: Urological Diseases Research Center, Boston Children's Hospital, Boston, MA, 02115, USA. joshua.mauney@childrens.harvard.edu.|Department of Surgery, Harvard Medical School, Boston, MA, 02115, USA. joshua.mauney@childrens.harvard.edu.|Department of Urology, John F. Enders Research Laboratories, Boston Children's Hospital, 300 Longwood Ave., Rm. 1009, Boston, MA, 02115, USA. joshua.mauney@childrens.harvard.edu.
authors.forename: Joshua R
authors.initials: JR
authors.lastname: Mauney
authors.affiliation: Urological Diseases Research Center, Boston Children's Hospital, Boston, MA, 02115, USA. carlos.estrada@childrens.harvard.edu.|Department of Surgery, Harvard Medical School, Boston, MA, 02115, USA. carlos.estrada@childrens.harvard.edu.|Department of Urology, Boston Children's Hospital, 300 Longwood Ave., Hunnewell 3, Boston, MA, 02115, USA. carlos.estrada@childrens.harvard.edu.
authors.forename: Carlos R
authors.initials: CR
authors.lastname: Estrada
mesh_terms: D000818:Animals; D005349:Fibroins / Q000737:chemistry / Q000378:metabolism*; D006801:Humans; D047011:Silk / Q000737:chemistry / Q000378:metabolism*; D023822:Tissue Engineering; D054457:Tissue Scaffolds; D014521:Urethra / Q000378:metabolism / Q000601:surgery; D001743:Urinary Bladder / Q000378:metabolism / Q000601:surgery
chemical_list: D047011:Silk; D005349:Fibroins
keywords: Animal models; Bladder; Silk; Tissue engineering; Urethra; Urinary tract