New strategies in kidney regeneration and tissue engineering

Joseph S. Uzarski, Yun Xia, Juan C.I. Belmonte, Jason A. Wertheim*

*Corresponding author for this work

Research output: Contribution to journalReview articlepeer-review

52 Scopus citations

Abstract

The severe shortage of suitable donor kidneys limits organ transplantation to a small fraction of patients suffering from end-stage renal failure. Engineering autologous kidney grafts on-demand would potentially alleviate this shortage, thereby reducing healthcare costs, improving quality of life, and increasing longevity for patients suffering from renal failure. RECENT FINDINGS: Over the past 2 years, several studies have demonstrated that structurally intact extracellular matrix (ECM) scaffolds can be derived from human or animal kidneys through decellularization, a process in which detergent or enzyme solutions are perfused through the renal vasculature to remove the native cells. The future clinical paradigm would be to repopulate these decellularized kidney matrices with patient-derived renal stem cells to regenerate a functional kidney graft. Recent research aiming toward this goal has focused on the optimization of decellularization protocols, design of bioreactor systems to seed cells into appropriate compartments of the renal ECM to nurture their growth to restore kidney function, and differentiation of pluripotent stem cells (PSCs) into renal progenitor lineages. SUMMARY: New research efforts utilizing bio-mimetic perfusion bioreactor systems to repopulate decellularized kidney scaffolds, coupled with the differentiation of PSCs into renal progenitor cell populations, indicate substantial progress toward the ultimate goal of building a functional kidney graft on-demand.

Original languageEnglish (US)
Pages (from-to)399-405
Number of pages7
JournalCurrent Opinion in Nephrology and Hypertension
Volume23
Issue number4
DOIs
StatePublished - Jul 2014
Externally publishedYes

Keywords

  • Decellularization
  • Extracellular matrix
  • Induced pluripotent stem cells
  • Kidney
  • Tissue engineering

ASJC Scopus subject areas

  • Nephrology
  • Internal Medicine

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