Stem Cell Therapy May Be a Promising Treatment for IC/BPS

Song M, Lim J, Yu HY, Park J, Chun JY, Jeong J, Heo J, Kang H, Kim Y, Cho YM, Kim SW, Oh W, Choi SJ, Jang SW, Park S, Shin DM, Choo MS. Mesenchymal stem cell therapy alleviates interstitial cystitis by activating Wnt signaling pathway. Stem Cells Dev. 2015 Mar 6.
For the first time, evidence has been reported that treatment with a certain kind of stem cells, derived from human umbilical cord blood, is effective in animal model of IC. In the study, rats that had chemically induced IC were treated with mesenchymal stem cells (MSCs), or cells from immature embryonic connective tissue. One injection of the MSCs significantly reduced irregular and decreased voiding in the rats. Moreover, the rats avoided a host of IC-related problems, such as increased inflammation, that emerged in rats with IC that did not get an MSC injection. While these results are encouraging, treatment in humans may be a long way off. However, these findings do provide new insights into how IC develops, and also provide a foundation for future human clinical trials of MSC therapy in patients with IC.