Tissue engineering of urethra: systematic review of recent literature

What is it about?

The purpose of this article was to perform systematic review of recent literature on urethral tissue engineering. A total of 31 articles describing the use of tissue engineering for urethra reconstruction were included. Obtained results are discussed in three groups: cells, scaffolds, and clinical results of urethral reconstructions using these components. Stem cells of different origin were used in many experimental studies, but only autologous urothelial cells, fibroblasts and keratinocytes were applied in clinical trials. Natural and synthetic scaffolds were studied in the context of urethral tissue engineering. The main advantage of synthetic ones is fact that they can be obtained in unlimited amount and modified by different techniques, but scaffolds of natural origin normally contains chemical groups and bioactive proteins which increase the cell attachment and may promote the cell proliferation and differentiation. The most promising are smart scaffolds delivering different bioactive molecules or those that can be tubularized. In two clinical trials only onlay-fashioned transplants were used for urethral reconstruction. However, the very promising results were obtained from animal studies where tubularized scaffolds, both non-seeded and cell-seeded were applied.

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Why is it important?

The main goal of this article was to perform systematic review of recent literature on urethral tissue engineering. It summarizes the most recent information about cells, seeded or non-seeded scaffolds and clinical application in respect to regeneration of urethra.