ArticleUrology2026
Validation and Testing of an In Vitro Model to Study Medical Treatments for Anterior Urethral Stricture Disease: Assessing the Potential Efficacy of Phosphodiesterase-4 Inhibition and Testosterone.
Article in Urology, 2026. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 1 paper.
What it found
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The abstract states no effect estimate the extractor could read, or names no intervention and outcome on the map, so this paper lights no cell and moves no belief. It is still indexed, cited and linked below.
The trial behind it
Trials whose registry record cites this paper, or whose number appears in the abstract. A trial that started after this paper was published is citing it as background, not reporting it.
Neither the registry nor the abstract names a trial number. If this is a trial report, that itself is worth knowing.
Who cites it
1 citing paper in PubMed.
- Round up.Indian journal of urology : IJU : journal of the Urological Society of IndiaArticle
Corrections and comments
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Authors and funding
13 authors.
Funding
Abstract
objectiveTo (1) determine the expression and distribution of all PDE4 isozymes (A-D) along the anterior urethra, (2) culture fibroblasts and epithelial cells from healthy and strictured urethras, (3) investigate an in vitro model of anterior urethral stricture disease (aUSD), and (4) assess the therapeutic potential of phosphodiesterase-4 (PDE4) inhibitors and testosterone compared to paclitaxel.
methodsThe presence and relative abundance of PDE4 isozymes (A-D) was confirmed using immunohistochemistry on 5 male cadaveric urethras. Human urethral fibroblasts (FBs) were cultured from healthy control urethras of patients undergoing vaginoplasty (n = 3) and from idiopathic bulbar urethral strictures (L2S1E2) of patients undergoing urethroplasty (n = 3). Epithelial cells (ECs) were cultured from a healthy control urethra and two urethral strictures. To investigate a model of aUSD, Control FBs were stimulated with TGFβ1 and compared to Stricture FBs on assays of cell proliferation and expression of genes relevant to aUSD pathophysiology. To test therapeutics, Stricture FBs were treated with the PDE4 inhibitor, roflumilast, testosterone (T), or paclitaxel and compared to Control FBs on the previously mentioned assays and cell viability.
resultsPDE4-A, B, and D were detected along the urethra and did not differ between regions. TGFβ1 altered proliferation and gene expression in a dose-dependent manner. Roflumilast and T preserved cell viability and proliferation and decreased expression of genes positively associated with aUSD.
conclusionUrethral FBs and ECs can be cultured from healthy and strictured surgical specimens, enabling in vitro research. PDE4 inhibitors and T may be non-cytotoxic alternatives or additions to paclitaxel for aUSD.
Identifiers
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Registered trials
Read under generation 80e0d062 · epoch 390. Bibliography from PubMed, PubMed Central and OpenAlex; grants from NIH RePORTER; trial links from ClinicalTrials.gov; estimates, votes and beliefs from the Socratic graph.