[Progress in researches on stem cell therapy for erectile dysfunction].

ABSTRACT

Erectile dysfunction (ED) commonly results from endothelial dysfunction and erectile nerve damage. Recent researches have focused on the preclinical studies of stem cell-based therapies targeted at repairing penile endothelium and protecting erectile nerves. Early studies showed that stem cell- or gene-modified stem cell-based therapies may have enduring efficacy and eventually lead to a cure for ED. Such stem cells as embryonic, mesenchymal, muscle-derived and adipose-derived ones and endothelial progenitor cells all have differentiation potentials and obvious advantages in protecting and repairing both nervi erigentes and corpus cavernosum vascular endothelial cells. Stem cell-based therapies promise to be an effective approach to human erectile dysfunction.