The mechanisms of urothelial cells differentiation / 中华泌尿外科杂志

ABSTRACT

The urothelium is a transitional epithelium which lines on the renal pelvis, ureter, bladder and proximal urethra adjacent to the bladder. It’s a permeability barrier. In the process of urothelial development or injury repair, the mature urothelial cells expressing uroplakin appears after the hierarchical transcription of a series of transcription factors in basal stem cells. Understanding normal urothelial differentiation process of the urothelial cells could be beneficial to uncover the development of urothelial carcinoma so that to provide targeted therapy options and the study of the urinary tract repair process after injury. In addition, the study of stem cell differentiation microenvironment also provides important theoretical support for tissue engineering and tissue reconstruction. In this review, we discuss the latest findings on urothelial cell differentiation and its clinical significance.