Treatment of diabetes mellitus-induced erectile dysfunction using endothelial progenitor cells genetically modified with human telomerase reverse transcriptase

Evidence from laboratory and animal studies provides groundwork for understanding mechanisms and potential before human studies continue.

• Level A · Stronger Clinical Evidence
• Level B · Emerging clinical evidence with positive signals
• Level C · Early human research exploring benefits
• Level D · Scientific groundwork from lab and animal studies
• Emerging · Emerging topic under active research

Abstract (original English)

The efficacy of treatments for diabetes mellitus-induced erectile dysfunction (DMED) is quite poor, and stem cell therapy is emerging as a useful method. In this study, we used endothelial progenitor cells (EPCs) overexpressing human telomerase reverse transcriptase (hTERT) for the treatment of DMED. Rat EPCs were transfected with hTERT (EPCs-hTERT). EPCs-hTERT secreted more growth factors and demonstrated enhanced proliferation and resistance to oxidative stress. Twenty-four male DMED rats were subjected to four treatments: DMED (DMED group), EPCs (EPCs group), EPCs transduced with control lentivirus (EPC-control group) and EPCs-hTERT (EPCs-hTERT group). A group of healthy rats were used as the normal control group. The erectile function in the EPCs-hTERT group was markedly increased compared with the EPCs and EPCs-control groups. The EPCs-hTERT group exhibited more growth factors, smooth muscle content and retained stem cells in penile tissues. The degree of apoptosis and collagen/smooth muscle ratio in penile tissues of the EPCs-hTERT group was considerably reduced. Endothelial nitric oxide synthase (eNOS) expression increased significantly in the EPCs-hTERT group. Taken together, these data showed that the enhanced paracrine effect, resistance to oxidative stress and proliferation of EPCs-hTERT may contribute to the improvements of erectile function in DMED rats.

Evidence level

Evidence from laboratory and animal studies provides groundwork for understanding mechanisms and potential before human studies continue.

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