Stress urinary incontinence(SUI), the most common form of incontinence in women, refers to urine leakage during activities such as coughing, sneezing and bending over. It is estimated that SUI affects15 million womenin the United States, and around 50% of men suffer from this condition during recovery fromprostate surgery. Despite the prevalence, there are few treatment options for SUI, which is typically managed by surgery or pelvic floor muscle exercises. There are currently no FDA-approved medications for SUI, but there is a great need for the development of novel and minimally-invasive therapies.

In acollaborative studybetweenKyungpook National UniversityandWake Forest University School of Medicinepublished inBMC Medicineas part of theFocus on stem cellsarticle collection, Bum Soo Kim and colleagues investigated the therapeutic potential ofhuman amniotic fluid stem cells(hAFSCs) for SUI.

Stem cell therapyfrom various sources has been considered as apromising option for SUI treatment, but has so far been limited by low numbers of bone marrow stromal cells, and invasive procedures to introduce muscle-derived stem cells.

Soo Kim and colleagues showed that hAFSCs, which can be obtained non-invasively and divide rapidly, can differentiate into muscle cells and restoreurethral sphincterfunction in a mouse model of SUI.

When extended into patients, these findings represent a promising new therapy for SUI; urethral sphincter weakness is a major cause of both acute and chronic SUI in men and women, and regeneration of the muscle with hAFSCs could be an effective, non-invasive treatment option.