Table 1.

Selected clinical studies of stem cell treatment for stress urinary incontinence

Study	Stem cell type	Study design	Outcomes	Conclusions
Carr et al., 2008	MDSCs	Sphincteric injections of autologous MDSCs in 8 women with SUI	After median follow up of 17 months, 5 out of 8 women showed improvement in sUI, with one achieving total continence.	Local stem cell therapy may be effective for SUI.
Carr et al., 2013	MDSCs	Sphincteric injections of autologous MDSCs in 38 women. Patients received either high (32–128 × 106 cells) or low dose (1–16 × 106 cells) treatment. Some women could elect to receive a second treatment after 3 months	After 12 months of follow up, 89% of women in the high dose group had ≥ 50% in reduction in pad weight compared to 62% in the low dose group. They also had a greater reduction in diary-reported stress leaks (78% vs. 53%). Side effects were minimal.	Local injection of MDSCs at a wide range of doses shows promise for relieving SUI and improving quality of life, with minimal side effects.
Stangel-Wojcikiewicz et al., 2013	MDSCs	Sphincteric injections of autologous MDSCs in 16 women with SUI. Dose of injected cells was 6 × 106	After 2 years of follow up, 50% of the patients were cured of SUI. A quarter of the patients were improved, and the remaining patients showed no improved symptoms. Side effects were minimal.	Local injection of MDSCs, even at a low dose, can provide durable relief of SUI symptoms in some patients.
Sébe et al., 2011	MDSCs	Sphincteric injections of autologous MDSCs in 12 women with SUI and fixed urethras after failed surgical management	After 12 months of follow up, 3 patients were dry according to a 7-day voiding diary and 1h pad test. In 7 other patients, pad test decreased while number of leaks/week did not. Quality of life was improved in half the patients.	Local injection of MDSCs in severe, multi-operated urethras can be a safe and effective therapy for SUI.
Blaganje et al, 2013	Myoblasts	Ultrasound-guided sphincteric injections of autologous myoblasts in 38 women. Patients also underwent post-operative transvaginal electrical stimulation for 5 weeks	Six weeks after treatment, 78.4% of patients had negative stress tests and reported subjective improvement in SUI. At 6-month follow-up, 52.6% reported improvement and 23.7% reported their incontinence cured.	Local injection of autologous myoblasts coupled with electrical stimulation may be a viable and safe treatment for SUI.
Kuismanen et al., 2014	ADSCs	Sphincteric injections of autologous ADSCs combined with bovine collagen in 5 women	After 1 year of follow up, 60% of patients had negative leak tests. All 5 patients reported subjective improvements	Local injection of ADSCs in combination with collagen may be safe and effective for the treatment of SUI in some patients

MDSC: muscle-derived stem cell, SUI: stress urinary incontinence, ADCS: adipose-derived stem cell