ClinicalTrials.gg
RecruitingNCT03258658Updated Jul 28, 2026

Safety and Feasibility Study of Autologous Engineered Urethral Constructs for the Treatment of Strictures

A Phase 1 interventional study of Autologous Engineered Urethral Construct in Urologic Diseases, Male Urogenital Diseases and Urethral Stricture, sponsored by Wake Forest University Health Sciences. Recruiting at 2 sites in United States. Open to male participants aged 21 Years to 75 Years. Per ClinicalTrials.gov, last updated 2026-07-28.

Primary conditionUrethral StrictureRegistry: Urologic DiseasesReclassifiedWhy we changed it
Registry
Urologic Diseases — the first condition term the registry derived for this study.
ClinicalTrials.gg
Urethral Stricture
Why
  1. The study's listed conditions name Urethral Stricture, a narrower term within Urologic Diseases.
Confidence
High: the new condition is named in the study's own listed conditions. Of 351 hand-checked studies reclassified this way, 68% were exactly right and 84% in the right disease family; the registry's first term was right for 5% (measured 2026-10-21). How we classify →
Wrong?
Tell us the study's main condition →

Sponsored by Wake Forest University Health Sciences · Phase 1, Interventional, and Treatment

Phase
Phase 1
Study type
Interventional
Enrollment
10
Allocation
Not applicable
Ages
21 Years to 75 Years
Sex
Male
01

Study summary

This is a Phase I clinical study to determine the safety and efficacy of using autologous, engineered urethral constructs for the treatment of urethral strictures in adult males.

The proposed study design is a prospective non-randomized and uncontrolled single-center investigation. Autologous urothelial cells (UCs) and smooth muscle cells (SMCs), obtained from enrolled male subjects' bladder tissue samples, will be culture expanded in vitro and used to seed tubular PGA scaffolds to create autologous urethral constructs for the repair of urethral strictures.

Read the detailed description

This is a Phase I clinical study to determine the safety and efficacy of using autologous, engineered urethral constructs for the treatment of urethral strictures in adult males.

The proposed study design is a prospective non-randomized and uncontrolled single-center investigation. Autologous urothelial cells (UCs) and smooth muscle cells (SMCs), obtained from enrolled male subjects' bladder tissue samples, will be culture expanded in vitro and used to seed tubular Polyglycolic Acid (PGA) scaffolds to create autologous urethral constructs for the repair of urethral strictures.

Male patients, aged 21-65 years old, seen in the Wake Forest Baptist Health urology clinic, referred to or self-referred to the study team, with recurrent urethral stricture, previously treated with dilation, internal urethrotomy, or urethroplasty, will be approached and offered consent to participate in in the trial. Up to 20 men may undergo screening procedures to identify 10 eligible subjects meeting all inclusion and exclusion criteria. All eligible subjects will undergo full thickness bladder tissue biopsies at Wake Forest Baptist Medical Center in Winston-Salem, North Carolina to obtain UCs and SMCs, which will be cultured and expanded and then seeded on tubular PGA scaffolds. Approximately 6 weeks after biopsy, the subjects will return to undergo surgical removal of the stricture and implant of the urethral construct. Subjects will be followed through 36 months.

02

Conditions studied

  • Urologic Diseases
  • Male Urogenital Diseases
  • Urethral Stricture
  • Urethral Injury

Browse trials for

Keywords

  • Urethral Stricture
03

In context

Urethral Stricture Reclassified

72 studies on the registry are indexed under Urethral Stricture; 25 are open to participants now.

This study's planned enrollment of 10 is below the median of 60 across 56 interventional studies indexed under Urethral Stricture.

Browse Urethral Stricture studies →

Lead sponsor

Wake Forest University Health Sciences is the lead sponsor of 1,351 studies on the registry; 201 are open to participants now.

Of its 332 completed or terminated interventional studies of FDA-regulated products, 251 (76%) have results posted.

Compared within Urethral Stricture, this study's primary condition as ClinicalTrials.gg classifies it; the registry's first condition term is Urologic Diseases. The counts are of registry records indexed under each term, refreshed daily. How we classify →

04

Who can participate

Ages eligible
21 Years to 75 Years
Sexes eligible
Male
Accepts healthy volunteers
No

Go through the criteria one by one — yes, no or not sure — and take the list to your doctor or the study team. Kept in this browser only.

Inclusion criteria

  • Stricture of the urethra meeting the following criteria:

    a) History of at least one 15-60 mm in length, as determined by urethrography. c) Contains at least 1 strictured segment through which a 16 Fr flexible cystoscope cannot be atraumatically passed.

  • Patients must be available for all follow-up visits.
  • Ability to speak English.

Exclusion criteria

Exclusion Criteria:

  • Strictures of the meatus or prostatic urethra; any urethral stricture associated with or suspected to be urethral carcinoma, or strictures due to pelvic distraction injuries. Strictures \<10 mm or >60 mm, as determined by urethrography, and criteria for bulbar urethral strictures excluding those with strictures \<20 mm and >60 mm, as described by urethrography.
  • Presence of untreated urinary tract infection.
  • Presence or prior history of lichen sclerosis et atrophicus (previously termed 'balanitis xerotica obliterans').
  • Uncontrolled bleeding disorder or patients with a count less than 50,000, hemophilia or patients routinely receiving blood products for bleeding disorders.
  • Any urological condition that would be likely to require additional urethral instrumentation during the period of investigation, including, but not limited to benign prostatic hyperplasia requiring treatment, use of alpha blockers, active prostate cancer, an unevaluated elevated prostate surface antigen (PSA), bladder cancer, or any recurrent urinary stone formation. Patients with evidence or diagnosis of any coagulation disorder (including concomitant anti-coagulation therapy at enrollment).
  • Serum creatinine > 2.0 mg/dl or evidence of progressive renal disease.
  • Patients with abnormal urologic conditions, including vesicoureteral reflux, bladder stones, bladder tumors and renal impairment.
  • Subjects with an (ALT) or aspartate aminotransferase (AST) value >3 times the .
  • Subjects with an albumin value \<3.0 g/dL.
  • Subjects with uncontrolled diabetes, unstable cardiac and/or pulmonary disorders.
  • Subjects with active tuberculosis (TB) requiring treatment in the past 3 years. Subjects with a current positive (≥5 mm induration for high-risk subjects; otherwise ≥10 mm of induration) purified protein derivative (PPD) test are excluded unless they have completed a full course of treatment for latent TB and have a negative chest x-ray film at enrollment.
  • Subjects known to be colonized with either methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus (MRSA) or vancomycin-resistant Enterococcus (VRE), or gentamicin-resistant organisms.
  • subjects or subjects receiving immunosuppressive agents (inhaled and chronic low-dose corticosteroids [≤0.25 mg/kg prednisone or equivalent per day] are permitted).
  • Any history of alcohol and/or drug abuse.
  • Current smoker.
  • Documented history of, or positive result of , or C, or any infectious disease. External signs, sequelae, or positive serology of sexually transmitted disease (including HPV).
  • Patients with a history of systemic conditions, including but not limited to HIV, diabetes and chronic liver disease (including Hepatitis B or C), that the Investigator believes may jeopardize the safety of the patient to participate in the study.
  • Concurrent participation in any other clinical investigation during the period of this investigation. Patients who have been treated with any other drug or participated in any investigational study within 30 days prior to enrollment in this study.
  • Any current illness that might confound the results of this investigation, including but not limited to bladder atonia, neuropathic/neurogenic bladder, bladder outlet obstruction (other than urethral stricture), sphincteric dysfunction, or spinal cord injury.
  • Any circumstance in which the investigator deems participation in the study is not in the subject's best interest.
  • Inability to participate in all necessary study activities due to physical or mental limitations.
  • Inability or unwillingness to return for all required follow-up visits.
  • inability or unwillingness to sign .
  • Patients requiring concomitant use of or treatment with immunosuppressive agents.
  • Patients with neurological disorders (e.g., multiple sclerosis, Parkinson's disease).
Terms in these criteria, in plain language(9)

Underlined terms in the criteria open these too. Explained by clinicaltrials.gg, not part of the registry record. The study team decides who can take part.

Platelets

Blood cells that help blood clot. Too few raises the risk of bleeding and bruising. A usual adult range is about 150–400 × 10⁹/L (150,000–400,000 per µL); each lab has its own reference range.

ALT and AST (liver enzymes)

Two enzymes measured in a routine blood test of the liver. Higher levels can mean the liver is under strain or damaged. SGPT and SGOT are older names for ALT and AST.

Criteria usually give a limit as a multiple of the upper limit of normal (ULN), often higher when cancer has spread to the liver.

ULN (upper limit of normal)

The top of the normal range for a blood test, as set by the laboratory that runs it. Each lab prints its own range next to your result.

“≤ 2.5 × ULN” means the result can be up to two and a half times that top value.

Immunosuppression

A weakened immune system. It can come from an illness, such as HIV or some blood cancers, or from medicines that turn the immune system down, for example after an organ transplant or for an autoimmune disease; steroids at higher doses count.

Read whether the line is about a condition or about medicines, and which medicines and doses it means.

Corticosteroids (steroids)

Anti-inflammatory medicines such as prednisone, prednisolone and dexamethasone — not the anabolic steroids used for muscle.

Studies differ in what they allow: check which steroid medicines, routes (tablets, injections, creams, inhalers, eye drops) and doses this study accepts.

HIV

The human immunodeficiency virus, which weakens the immune system.

Many studies now accept people whose HIV is controlled on treatment, judged by the viral load and the CD4 count. Check the limits this study sets.

Hepatitis B tests

Hepatitis B is a virus that infects the liver. These are separate tests: HBsAg positive usually means a current infection (a recent vaccination can briefly cause it too); total anti-HBc (HBcAb) positive means an infection now or in the past; HBV DNA measures how much virus is in the blood.

Some studies accept a past infection if HBV DNA is undetectable, sometimes with antiviral medicine during the study. Check what this study allows.

Investigational drug or device

A drug or device being studied in a clinical trial.

It may be new, or already approved and being studied for another use, dose or form. Criteria often leave out people who took part in another study of one within a recent period, commonly 30 days or five half-lives.

Informed consent

Before you join, the study team explains what taking part involves — its purpose, what happens, the risks and possible benefits — and answers your questions, so you can decide freely. Consent is usually recorded on a form (the informed consent form, ICF) signed by you or, where the law allows, by someone legally authorised to decide for you.

You can keep asking questions during the study, you are told of new information that matters, and you can choose to leave at any time.

05

Study design

Phase
Phase 1
Primary purpose
Treatment
Allocation
Not applicable
Intervention model
Single group
Masking
None (open label)
Enrollment
10 participants (estimated)

Study arms

  • Experimental
    Autologous Engineered Urethral Construct

    All subjects enrolled will undergo a full-thickness bladder biopsy as an out-patient surgical procedure. Urothelial and Smooth Muscle Cells recovered from the biopsy will be isolated and expanded over the next 4-6 weeks, and then seeded onto a tubular scaffold to create the autologous engineered urethral construct. Subjects will undergo a second surgical procedure to excise the urethral stricture and implant the urethral construct. All subjects will be followed for 3 years for safety and efficacy.

    Biological: Autologous Engineered Urethral Construct

Interventions

  • BiologicalAutologous Engineered Urethral Construct

    urethral construct

06

What researchers measure

Primary outcomes

  1. Incidence of product-related, biopsy procedure-related, and injection procedure-related adverse events

    Rate of adverse events reported for each patient

    Time frame: monitored through 36 months post treatment

Secondary outcomes

  1. Effectiveness of urethral construct in repairing urethral stricture

    Improvement in peak urinary flow rate defined as Qmax improvement from baseline

    Time frame: monitored through 36 months post construct implant

07

Study locations

1 of 2 sites recruiting
08

References and documents

Individual participant data

Plan to share: No

No publications or documents are linked to this record.

09

Updates

Tracking since Sep 25, 2026
No changes since tracking began. The registry record was last updated on Jul 28, 2026, before this site started recording changes on Sep 25, 2026. Its history is on ClinicalTrials.gov ↗
10

Registry details

Key details

Study ID
NCT03258658
Collaborators
United States Department of Defense
Responsible party
Sponsor
First posted
Aug 23, 2017
Start date
Jan 2027 (estimated)
Primary completion
Jun 2029 (estimated)
Completion
Jun 2029 (estimated)
Last update
Jul 28, 2026

Study contacts

Mary-Clare Day, RN, BSN
Contact
Maryclare.Day@advocatehealth.org
336-713-1343
James Yoo, MD
principal investigator · Wake Forest Institute for Regenerative Medicine

Oversight

Data monitoring committee
Yes
FDA-regulated drug
Yes
FDA-regulated device
No
View the source record on ClinicalTrials.gov ↗

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