Table 1.

Summary of preclinical studies on stem cell therapy for cystitis models mimicking IC/BPS

First author	Stem cell source	Stem cell type	Transplantation route	Tracking of stem cells	Differentiation	Results
Song et al. [39]	Human	UCB-MSCs	Bladder injection	PKH26	Yes	Ameliorated epithelial denudation and abnormal inflammation, neural networks, and angiogenesis by activating Wnt signaling pathway.
Xie et al. [40]	Human	UCB-MSCs	Intravenous injection	No	Unknown	Alleviated IC/BPS in a chemically induced animal and cell models by alleviating inflammation, promoting proliferation, and inhibiting apoptosis via EGF-dependent AKT/mTOR signaling pathway.
Hirose et al. [41]	Human	DP-MSCs	Bladder injection	In situ hybridization for human Y chromosome	No	Promoted healing of chemically induced cystitis through the following trophic factors: fibroblast growth factor 2, vascular endothelial growth factor, monocyte chemoattractant protein-1, growth-related oncogene and fractalkine.
Furuta et al. [42]	Rat	Adipose-derived MSCs	Bladder injection	GFP	Unknown	Decreased the number of mast cells, expression of TNF-α, TGF-β, and collagen fibers, and nociceptive behavior in a chemically induced IC/BPS rat model.
Li et al. [43]	Human	Urine-derived MSCs	Intravenous injection	No	Unknown	Restored bladder function and histological damage via decreasing oxidative stress, inflammatory, and apoptotic biomarkers in a protamine/lipopolysaccharide-induced IC/BPS rat model.
Kim et al. [44]	Human	ESC-derived multipotent stem cells	Bladder injection	GFP	Yes	Compared with bone marrow-derived MSCs, a single injection of ESCs-MSCs had superior efficacy in improving bladder voiding function and histological damage including urothelium denudation, mast cell infiltration, tissue fibrosis, apoptosis, and visceral hypersensitivity.
Ryu et al. [45]	Human	ESC-derived multipotent stem cells	Bladder injection	GFP	Yes	A combination of longitudinal intravital confocal fluorescence imaging and microcystoscopy in a chronic IC/BPS animal model demonstrated that transplanted human ESCs-MSCs improved voiding function and histological damage by differentiation into multiple cell types and gradually integrated into a perivascular-like structure.

IC/BPS, interstitial cystitis/bladder pain syndrome; UCB, umbilical cord blood; MSCs, mesenchymal stem cells; EGF, epidermal growth factor; Akt/mTOR, protein kinase B/mammalian target of rapamycin; DP, dental pulp; GFP, green fluorescent protein; ESCs, embryonic stem cells; TNF, tumor necrosis factor; TGF, transforming growth factor.