Project Details
Projekt
KFO 273: Therapy of Urinary Incontinence by Cell-based Regeneration of the Sphincter Muscle of the Urethra
Subject Area
Medicine
Term
from 2012 to 2017
Project identifier
Deutsche Forschungsgemeinschaft (DFG) - Project number 190473765
Urinary incontinence is defined as frequent involuntary loss of urine. Mild forms of incontinence lead to social problems, while more severe forms result in serious health problems. In Germany costs for auxiliary devices to cope with urinary incontinence exceed half a billion euros annually. For the most common cause of urinary incontinence, stress incontinence (SUI), there is no sustainable curative treatment so far. SUI is caused by a weakness or malfunction of the urethral sphincter. The Clinical Research Unit will explore various aspects of a possible curative, cell-based therapy to strengthen the weakened urethral sphincter. We focus on three main clinical questions: (1) Can cells or implants be accurately administered in the urethral sphincter and can this process be controlled intraoperatively? (2) Do the applied cells integrate physiologically in the muscle and do they connect to the neuronal control systems? (3) Do the applied cells remain vital after injection and what is their regenerative potential in time? In five interacting projects and two cross-sectional projects within the Clinical Research Unit the following research programme will be implemented: (A) The selection and preparation of cells suitable for regeneration of a degenerated or damaged sphincter muscle, (B) The development of gentle but precise surgical methods and application technologies for cells, (C) The development of an accurate imaging method for the navigation of the application equipment, (D) The development of techniques for the detection of cells after their injection and methods for medium-term follow-up in a pre-clinical model, (E) The development of improved and more sensitive sensors for urodynamic measurements and for measuring muscle strength.
DFG Programme
Clinical Research Units
Projects
- Analyse der funktionellen Homogenität myogen differenzierter Stammzellpopulationen und ihrer funktionellen Integration in einen myogenen Zellverband (Applicant Günther, Elke )
- Differenzierung mesenchymaler Stromazellen und definierter Subpopulationen zu Muskelzellen unter biochemischer und biomechanischer Stimulation (Applicants Aicher, Wilhelm K. ; Klein, Gerd ; Rolauffs, Bernd )
- Entwicklung und Untersuchung eines navigierten Endoskopsystems mit Dosiereinheit zum ortsaufgelösten Applizieren von mesenchymalen Stromazellen in den Blasenschließmuskel (Applicants Stallkamp, Jan ; Stenzl, Arnulf )
- Markierung von therapeutischen Zellen mit einer Reporterprobe zur nicht-invasiven Darstellung der Zell-Wanderung und -Akkumulation in vivo. (Applicants Claussen, Claus D. ; Kramer, Ulrich ; Pichler, Bernd )
- Molekulare Strategien zur Unterstützung der funktionalen Reinnervation des mit Zellimplantation behandelten Harnröhrensphinkters unter Verwendung eines neuen auf p-53 basierenden Ansatzes. (Applicant Di Giovanni, Simone )
- Signalverarbeitung und Modellierung zur objektiven Bestimmung der vom Harnröhren- Schließmuskel ausgeübten Kraft zur Beurteilung des Regenerationsstatus. (Applicant Sawodny, Oliver )
- Therapie der Harninkontinenz (Applicant Stenzl, Arnulf )
- Xenogenes Großtiermodell zur Therapie der Belastungsinkontinenz mit humanen mesenchymalen Stammzellen aus Knochenmark, Fettgewebe und Plazenta (Applicant Sievert, Karl-Dietrich )
Spokesperson
Professor Dr. Arnulf Stenzl
