Urine-derived Stem Cells, A New Source of Seed Cells for Tissue Engineering

Tissue engineering, as a frontier of medicine, is aimed at regeneration of tissue and organ which can be used for the therapy of many diseases, such as trauma, cancer, and deformity. Some pluripotent stem cells are considered to be suitable for seed cells for tissue engineering, for example, bone marrow mesenchymal stem cells, adipose-derived stem cells and epidermal stem cells. Urine-derived stem cells (USCs) have been reported, and regarded as a candidate for seed cells in tissue engineering because of low-cost collection and isolation, efficient proliferation, and multi-differentiation potential, which have been documented in recent years. In this paper, we will introduce the biological characteristics of USCs and their potential applications in tissue engineering.