Wake Forest researchers study urine as source for stem cells

WINSTON-SALEM, N.C. A daily bodily function urinating may become another option for collecting stem cells that can be transformed into regenerated tissue and organs.

Researchers with the Wake Forest Institute of Regenerative Medicine have identified stem cells in urine that can become multiple cell types. Their report is available on the website of the journal Stem Cells.

In a separate study released July 30, a group of researchers from the Guangzhou Institutes of Biomedicine and Health said they have been able to generate in mice tooth-like structures from urine-induced pluripotent stem cells.

Dr. Anthony Atala, director of the Wake Forest institute, said the use of urine-derived stem cells to regenerate human tissue and organs remains several years away.

Weve been looking at urine as a stem cell option since 2006, Atala said. Research has been so far, so good in rodents.

Being able to use a patients own stem cells for therapy is considered advantageous because they do not induce immune responses or rejection.

However, because tissue-specific cells are a very small subpopulation of cells, they can be difficult to isolate from organs and tissues.

The challenge has been getting the right cells and the right results every time, Atala said. This study reflects the promise of achieving those goals with samples that most people get rid of six times a day.

Atala and Dr. Yuanyuan Zhang, senior Wake Forest researcher on the study, said one advantage of collecting stem cells through urine is that it is a non-invasive, low-cost approach that avoids surgical procedures. Other post-birth options can require drilling into bone marrow.

The researchers say they have taken stem cells from urine and transformed them into bladder-type cells, such as smooth muscle and urothelial, the cells that line the bladder.

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Wake Forest researchers study urine as source for stem cells