Mesenchymal stem cell-based gene therapy for erectile dysfunction

Despite the overwhelming success of PDE5 inhibitor (PDE5I), the demand for novel pharmacotherapeutic and surgical options for ED continues to rise owing to the increased proportion of elderly individuals in the population, in addition to the growing percentage of ED patients who do not respond to PDE5I. Surgical treatment of ED is associated with many complications, thus warranting the need for nonsurgical therapies. Moreover, none of the above-mentioned treatments essentially corrects, cures or prevents ED. Although gene therapy is a promising option, many challenges and obstacles such as local inflammatory response and random transgene expression, in addition to other safety issues, limit its use at the clinical level. The use of stem cell therapy alone also has many shortcomings. To overcome these inadequacies, many scientists and clinicians are investigating new gene and stem cell therapies.