BEESHAUS

(Buccal epithelium Expanded and Encapsulated in Scaffold‐Hybrid Approach to Urethral Stricture)

The BEES-HAUS is a novel, cell based therapy for short segment stricture of urethra which is otherwise tackled with either urethrotomy or dilatation subject to the nature and severity of the disease.

BEES-HAUS methodology employs in vitro expanded autologous buccal mucosal epithelial cells, which are transplanted after encapsulation in a nano-polymer scaffold. The transplanted cells assist the process of healing with mucosal coverage of the stricture affected and/or fibrotic lumen, which has been proven in a pilot study by Dr Suryaprakash Vaddi (Consultant & HoD Urology, Narayana medical college, Nellore, India) with assistance from the team of experts in tissue engineering and nanotechnology of NCRM and their collaborators.

BEES-HAUS method has the following advantages:

1. The buccal mucosal tissue harvesting is very little and doesn't require general anesthesia

2. The transplantation is done through cystoscopy and again doesn't require general anesthesia

3. In a six-patients pilot study, more than 36 months restenosis free status has been documented in four patients among which one had undergone BMG Plasty and two had undergone VIU.

To our knowledge this is probably the first such accomplishment and the team is working towards a clinical trial of larger number of patients to make this a routine application after necessary validations.

 

PUBLICATIONS ON BEES-HAUS

1. Vaddi SP, Reddy VB, Abraham S. Buccal epithelium Expanded and Encapsulated in Scaffold‐Hybrid Approach to Urethral Stricture (BEES‐HAUS) procedure: A novel cell therapy‐based pilot study. Int J Urol. 2018 Nov 22.

2. Horiguchi A. Editorial Comment from Dr Horiguchi to Buccal epithelium Expanded and Encapsulated in Scaffold-Hybrid Approach to Urethral Stricture (BEES-HAUS) procedure: A novel cell therapy-based pilot study. Int J Urol. 2018 Nov 28. doi: 10.1111/iju.13874.

3. Takao T. Editorial Comment from Dr Takao to Buccal epithelium Expanded and Encapsulated in Scaffold-Hybrid Approach to Urethral Stricture (BEES-HAUS) procedure: A novel cell therapy-based pilot study. Int J Urol. 2018 Dec 16. doi: 10.1111/iju.13884.

4. Katoh S, Rao KS, Suryaprakash V, Horiguchi A, Kushibiki T, Ojima K, Iwasaki M, Takeda M, Senthilkumar R, Rajmohan M, Karthick R, Preethy S, Abraham S. A 3D polymer scaffold platform for enhanced in vitro culture of Human & Rabbit buccal epithelial cells for cell therapies. Tokai J Exp Clin Med 2021; 46(1):1-6

5. Horiguchi A, Ojima K, Shinchi M, Kushibiki T, Mayumi Y, Miyai K, Katoh S, Takeda M, Iwasaki M, Suryaprakash V, Balamurugan M, Rajmohan M, Preethy S, Abraham SJK. Successful engraftment of epithelial cells derived from autologous rabbit buccal mucosal tissue, encapsulated in a polymer scaffold in a rabbit model of a urethral stricture, transplanted using the transurethral approach.. Regen. Ther. 2021; 18:127-132. doi: 10.1016/j.reth.2021.05.004

6. Horiguchi A, Ojima K, Shinchi M, Kushibiki T, Mayumi Y, Kushibiki T, Katoh S, Takeda M, Iwasaki M, Yoshioka H, Suryaprakash V, Balamurugan M, Senthilkumar R, Abraham SJK. In Vitro Culture Expansion and Characterization of Buccal Mucosal Epithelial Cells for Tissue Engineering Applications in Urethral Stricture After Transportation Using a Thermoreversible Gelation Biopreservation and Biobanking 2021.. https://doi.org/10.1089/bio.2021.0079

7. Senthilkumar R, Yoshioka H, Katoh S, Iwasaki M, VSurya Prakash V, Balamurugan M, Dedeepiya VD, Preethy S, Abraham. Engraftment and proliferation of thermoreversible-gelation-polymer-encapsulated human corneal limbal-stem-cells on ocular surface of a cadaver cornea. Current Eye Research; doi: 10.1080/02713683.2023.2180039.

8. Horiguchi A, Shinchi M, Ojima K, Hirano Y, Kushibiki T, Mayumi Y, Miyai K, Miura I, Iwasaki M, Suryaprakash V, Senthilkumar R, Preethy S, Katoh S, Abraham SJK. Engraftment of Transplanted Buccal Epithelial Cells onto the Urethrotomy Site, Proven Immunohistochemically in Rabbit Model; a Feat to Prevent Urethral Stricture Recurrence. Stem Cell Rev Rep. 2022 Oct 28; doi: 10.1007/s12015-022-10466-1.

9. Akio Horiguchi, Toshihiro Kushibiki, Mayumi Yoshine, Masayuki Shinchi, Kenichiro Ojima, Yusuke Hirano, Shojiro Katoh, Masaru Iwasaki, Vaddi Surya Prakash, Koji Ichiyama, Rajappa Senthilkumar, Senthilkumar Preethy, Samuel JK Abraham. A hybrid combination of in vitro cultured buccal mucosal cells using two different methodologies, complementing each other in successfully repairing a stricture-inflicted human male urethral epithelium. biorxiv 2023.08.29.555240v1; doi: 10.1101/2023.08.29.555240.

 

PRESS RELEASES

1. 2018, Nov, 5: Press Release on Japan-India collaboration yields a novel treatment method for male urethral stricture; GN Corporation to collaborate with JBM Inc., to work towards an approval for BEES-HAUS