Urethra Reconstruction with Tissue-Engineering Technology

Abstract

Urethral stricture is a disease characterized by a pathological narrowing of the urethra. Treatment for this condition often requires surgery using autologous grafts (urethroplasty). It is common practice to use patient’s own tissue like genital and extragenital skin, tunica vaginalis, buccal mucosa as a source of the graft. Alternative and safer approach is to use tissue-engineered graft created in a laboratory using patient’s autologous cells and biocompatible matrix (scaffold). The article presents the up-to-date achievements in lab-created tissue-engineered graft, describes all components needed to build a tissue-engineered structure of the graft for urethroplasty, and summarizes authors’ thoughts on advantages and disadvantages of various approaches to choose both cellular component and the matrix of future construction. The article reviews clinical studies conducted in the field of tissue engineering of the graft material for urethraplasty.

Buccal epithelium Expanded and Encapsulated in Scaffold‐Hybrid Approach to Urethral Stricture (BEES‐HAUS) procedure: A novel cell therapy‐based pilot study

“…Autologous buccal mucosa has been used in substitution urethroplasty for many years with acceptable results . We used autologous cultured buccal epithelial cells in the present study, thus obviating the risks of antigenicity and infections associated with allogenic tissue transfer.…”

“…Autologous buccal mucosa has been used in substitution urethroplasty for many years with acceptable results. [5][6][7][8] We used autologous cultured buccal epithelial cells in the present study, thus obviating the risks of antigenicity and infections associated with allogenic tissue transfer. The success of urethroplasty mainly depends on the caliber of the native urethral lumen and severity of underlying spongiofibrosis The stricture recurrence rates after buccal substitution urethroplasty at 5, 10 and 15 years are 21, 31 and 58%, respectively.…”

“…Tissue engineering technology using cell‐seeded or unseeded matrices to reconstruct the urethra has been used in various studies with mixed results . The Buccal epithelium Expanded and Encapsulated in Scaffold‐Hybrid Approach to Urethral Stricture (BEES‐HAUS) is a tissue engineering‐based cell therapy procedure that is completely endoscopic and is a much less morbid procedure.…”

“…3,4 Tissue engineering technology using cell-seeded or unseeded matrices to reconstruct the urethra has been used in various studies with mixed results. [5][6][7][8] The Buccal epithelium Expanded and Encapsulated in Scaffold-Hybrid Approach to Urethral Stricture (BEES-HAUS) is a tissue engineering-based cell therapy procedure that is completely endoscopic and is a much less morbid procedure. In this procedure, autologous cultured buccal epithelial cells expanded and encapsulated in TGP scaffold are implanted at the stricture site after a wide endoscopic urethrotomy to form an epithelial layer.…”

Outlook for Wound Healing Technologies (a Review)

“…Они, в отличие от обычных гидрогелей, обладают характеристиками «золь-гель» перехо-да, имеющего уникальное свойство памяти и способность к самокомплектации [20]. Следует отметить, что при процессе биопрототипирования сохраняется жизнеспособность клеток независимо от того, какой именно используется материал [21]. Также преимуществом биопрототипирования в сравнении с традиционной трансплантацией тканей является возможность культивирования новых тканевых структур, содержащих клетки самого реципиента.…”