# Urothelial Stem Cells

> **NIH NIH R01** · NEW YORK UNIVERSITY SCHOOL OF MEDICINE · 2020 · $545,221

## Abstract

Summary
This project builds upon the Principal Investigator’s extensive experience in studying urothelial
differentiation and keratinocyte stem cells, and aims at providing a better understanding of bladder
urothelial stem cells. Despite the central importance of urothelial stem cells in the homeostasis,
regeneration and tumorigenesis of the bladder, their precise location and properties are still
incompletely understood. There are several issues that hinder the progress in this field. For example,
since the term “urothelium” is used to describe the uroplakin-expressing epithelium that covers the
entire urinary tract including the renal pelvis, ureter, bladder and proximal urethra, it is often assumed
that urothelia of all these sites are the same. In addition, studies on bladder urothelial stem cells have
been limited to the bladder per se and no attention has been paid to urothelial stem cells outside of
the bladder proper. However, we have recently discovered that ureterovesicular junction (UVJ)
harbors a large cluster of strongly labeled (label-retaining) stem cells. The presence of a major cluster
of stem cells outside of the bladder proper, located near the bladder-ureter orifice, is reminiscent of
the corneal epithelium whose stem cells reside outside of the corneal proper in the limbal zone, and
the follicular bulge stem cells that, although outside of the epidermis, are involved in epidermal repair.
The goals of this project are to better understand the properties and in vivo functions of the UVJ stem
cells, and their relationships with the bladder and ureteral urothelial stem cells. These studies can
improve our understanding of urothelial homeostasis, regeneration, and diseases including
metaplasia and urinary tract infection. To reach these goals, we will pursue three Specific Aims that
will study: (i) molecular markers of urothelial lineages and stem cells, (ii) biological functions of the
urothelial stem cells, and (iii) the possible roles of the Wnt pathway in regulating the urothelial stem
cells.

## Key facts

- **NIH application ID:** 9978775
- **Project number:** 5R01DK110466-04
- **Recipient organization:** NEW YORK UNIVERSITY SCHOOL OF MEDICINE
- **Principal Investigator:** XUE-RU WU
- **Activity code:** R01 (R01, R21, SBIR, etc.)
- **Funding institute:** NIH
- **Fiscal year:** 2020
- **Award amount:** $545,221
- **Award type:** 5
- **Project period:** 2017-09-01 → 2023-06-30

## Primary source

NIH RePORTER: https://reporter.nih.gov/project-details/9978775

## Citation

> US National Institutes of Health, RePORTER application 9978775, Urothelial Stem Cells (5R01DK110466-04). Retrieved via AI Analytics 2026-05-28 from https://api.ai-analytics.org/grant/nih/9978775. Licensed CC0.

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