Urine-derived stem cells (USCs) are a promising source of stem cells for cell therapy, renal toxicity drug testing, and renal disease biomarker discovery. Patients’ own USCs can be used for precision medicine. In this review we first describe the isolation and characterization of USCs. We then discuss preclinical studies investigating the use of USCs in cell therapy, exploring the utility of USCs and USC-derived induced pluripotent stem cells (u-iPSCs) in drug toxicity testing, and investigating the use of USCs as biomarkers for renal disease diagnosis. Finally, we discuss the challenges of using USCs in these applications and provide insights into future research directions. USCs are a promising tool for advancing renal therapy, drug testing, and biomarker discovery. Further research is needed to explore their potential.

中文翻译：

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超越废物：了解尿液在精准医学中的潜力

尿源性干细胞（USC）是用于细胞治疗、肾毒性药物测试和肾病生物标志物发现的有前途的干细胞来源。患者自己的 USC 可用于精准医疗。在这篇综述中，我们首先描述了 USC 的分离和表征。然后，我们讨论了研究 USC 在细胞治疗中的应用的临床前研究，探索 USC 和 USC 衍生的诱导多能干细胞 (u-iPSC) 在药物毒性测试中的效用，并研究 USC 作为肾脏疾病诊断的生物标志物的用途。最后，我们讨论了在这些应用中使用 USC 的挑战，并提供了对未来研究方向的见解。USC 是推进肾脏治疗、药物测试和生物标志物发现的有前途的工具。需要进一步研究来探索它们的潜力。