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Updated: Jun 20, 2026

Conditional Reprogramming of Pediatric Human Esophageal Epithelial Cells for Use in Tissue Engineering and Disease Investigation
Published on: March 22, 2017
Potential of cell therapy to treat pediatric motility disorders
Ryo Hotta1, Dipa Natarajan, Nikhil Thapar
1Department of Anatomy & Cell Biology, University of Melbourne, Victoria, Australia.
Abstract:
Gut motility disorders represent a significant challenge in clinical management with current palliative approaches failing to overcome disease and treatment-related morbidity. The recent progress with stem cells to restore missing or defective elements of the gut neuromusculature offers new hope for potential cure. Focusing on enteric neuropathies such as Hirschsprung's disease, the review discusses the progress that has been made in the sourcing of putative stem cells and the studies into their biology and therapeutic potential. It also explores the practical challenges that must be overcome before stem cell-based therapies can be applied in the clinical arena. Although many obstacles remain, the speed of advancement of the enteric stem cell field suggests that such therapies are on the horizon.
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