Skeletal muscle regenerated and symptoms of stress urinary incontinence in preclinical research suggests improvement after use of a cell-free substance discovered at Mayo Clinic. The teams of Atta Behfar, M.D., Ph.D. and Emanuel Trabuco, M.D., led this research in a collaboration between Mayo Clinic Departments of Cardiovascular Medicine and Obstetrics and Gynecology. The paper is published in NPJ Regenerative Medicine.

"Surgical treatment for stress urinary incontinence, a condition afflicting 25 million women, has significantly declined over concerns about negative side effects," says Dr. Trabuco. “This has led many women to delay therapy and suffer needlessly. We hope to develop a minimally invasive, noncellular, exosome-based approach to muscle regeneration for urinary incontinence that not only targets the underlying cause of the condition but also avoids the problem with the invasive surgical options that are presently available."

Mayo Clinic's Center for Regenerative Biotherapeutics supports this research as part of its objective of delivering new cures to the practice, particularly for rare and complex conditions.

The research team used regenerative purified exosome product derived from platelets, known as PEP, to deliver messages into the cells of preclinical models. Exosomes are extracellular vesicles that are like a delivery service moving cargo from one cell to another, with instructions for targeting exact tissues that need repair.

This study suggests that the use of purified exosome product alleviates stress urinary incontinence from musculoskeletal breakdown in animals. The team did not detect any infection or off-target toxicity with application of exosomes.

"Skeletal muscle degeneration is a major cause of morbidity. Our research seeks to advance development of off-the-shelf technologies to regenerate skeletal muscle. Our hope is to deliver new therapeutic options for human health and could have implications on orthopedics and reconstructive surgery as evaluated in this publication," says Dr. Behfar.

Dr. Behfar is director of the Mayo Clinic Van Cleve Cardiac Regenerative Medicine Program and co-director for Innovation in Biologics for the Department of Cardiovascular Medicine.

Clinical trials will be needed to verify safety and effectiveness of using exosomal products for stress urinary continence in humans. Clinical trial testing of exosome-based therapies is an essential part of the process, as determined by the Food and Drug Administration, to prove the safety and benefit of technologies before they are available use in daily clinical care.

This research was made possible by intramural support from the Michael S. and Mary Sue Shannon Family and the Mayo Clinic Van Cleve Cardiac Regenerative Medicine Program.

Mayo Clinic and Dr. Behfar have a financial interest in the technology referenced in this article.

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Tags: #Dr. Atta Behfar, #Dr. Emanuel Trabuco, #Mayo Clinic Center for Regenerative Biotherapeutics, #purified exosome product, #skeletal muscle regeneration, #Stress urinary incontinence, Uncategorized