Treatment of urinary incontinence with stem cells and stem cell secretome

Urinary incontinence is the unintentional loss of urine. Stress incontinence happens when physical movement or activity — such as coughing, laughing, sneezing, running or heavy lifting — puts pressure (stress) on your bladder, causing you to leak urine.

In women pregnancy, childbirth, obesity, and menopause are the most common causes of stress incontinence, resulting from inadequate closure of the urethral sphincter due to weakness of the pelvic floor or direkt damage of the sphincter ^II,III,IV.

In men stress incontinence is most common after prostate surgery^I, such as prostatectomy for cancer, or TURP - transurethral resection of the prostate - for benign enlargement of the prostate, BPH benign prostatic hypertrophy.

Standard therapies of urinary incontinence often provide only symptomatic relief without targeting the underlying etiology of disease.

Recently, the use of stem cells to halt disease progression and reverse underlying pathology has emerged as a promising method to restore normal voiding function.

At ANOVA Institute for Regenerative Medicine our interdiscipinary team of medical experts asseses your problems with incontinence and your eligibility for stem cell treatment with a comprehensive diagnostic work-up.

Together with the Prof. Stehling Institute for Imaging Diagnostics we have developed specific imaging methods to visualise the critical anatomical structures at the pelvic floor including dynamic imaging of the pelvic floor under strain and high-resolution imaging of the urinary spincter.

This allows us to direct the treatment with stem cell products precisely to the area where the stem cell are most needed. With stem cell secretome we can perfuse the urinary spincter to reactivate its function witout any damage to the delicate anatomical structure of the sphincter. This is one of the many advantages over surgical approaches, which invariably lead to a distruction of part or all of the urinary sphincter.

Stem cells are classically thought to repair damaged tissues and organs by differentiating into and replacing damaged cells. In most cases, however, stem cells exert their therapeutic effect by the secretion of bioactive molecules and microvesicles, collectively called the "stem cell secretome". It is the secretome that directs other stem and progenitor cells, which are already present in the tissue or organ, to the area of injury. The secretome also has anti-apoptotic and anti-inflammatory properties, reduces scarring, effects neo-vascularization, and has immunomodulatory properties.

Local injections of mesenchymal, muscle-derived, and adipose-derived stem cells have all yielded successful outcomes in animal models of mechanical, nerve, or external urethral sphincter injury in stress urinary incontinence. Early clinical trials using stem cells for the treatment of stress urinary incontinence in both male and female patients have yielded promising functional results with minimal adverse effects^V.

Whilst stem cell therapies have for many years been described as promising and successful for the treatment of urinary incontinence in the urological literature, urologists have lamented the unavailability of stem cell products due to regulatory issues. In Germany, this issue was recently addressed during the 73rd annual meeting of the German Urological Society (DGU - Deutsche Gesellschaft für Urologie) ^VI,VII

This has changed since ANOVA Institute for Regenerative Medicine has obtained the first production permit^* for mesenchymal stem cell secretome and bone marrow stem cells.

If you suffer from urinary incontinence, call us to arrange an appointment with one of our medical specialists to find out whether stem cells can help you regain a better life.