Successfully created kidney cells from stem cells

(Researchers at the Institute of Biotechnology and Nanotechnology (IBN) have successfully created human kidney cells from human embryonic stem cells in vitro (biological assay in the room). experiment). Specifically, they produce kidney cells under artificial conditions in the laboratory without using animals or body parts. This is the first time this has been done.

According to IBN CEO, Professor Jackie Y. Ying: "This finding has profound implications in laboratory research on toxicology, drug screening, specimens and regenerative medicine. Especially We are interested in applying this technology to develop in vitro drug prediction and nephrotoxicity testing as an alternative to animal testing. "

Lead researcher and principal scientist of IBN Dr. Daniele Zink added: "Kidney is an important target organ to reduce the toxic effects caused by drugs. Therefore, early detection in the period The developmental section considers whether or not your drug causes toxicity to human kidneys, which is very important for every pharmaceutical company, however, the animal model has limited predictability, and there are currently no regulations for accepting in vitro assays based on kidney cells for predicting nephrotoxic effects.A major problem is the lack of appropriate kidney cells, this problem can now be resolved through our findings ".

Currently, human kidney cells are transplanted from human kidney samples. However, this method is ineffective because the source of these samples is limited, and transplant cells usually die after several cell division in the implant. In addition, cells obtained from different samples will have different characteristics, depending on the age, gender, health status and other conditions of the donor. Therefore, cells taken from human samples are not suitable for research and application in modern medicine and industry, which requires large numbers of cells.

Another method is the use of 'immortal' kidney cell lines, meaning they can be reproduced indefinitely in the laboratory. However, these cells cannot be used in many applications due to safety issues, and their functions are often changed so dramatically that they become no longer useful for predicting cell behavior in the human body.

IBN's technique, on the other hand, allows embryonic stem cells to turn into tubular-like cells. This particular type of kidney cell plays an important role in the treatment of kidney disease and drug detoxification. The results show that nearly all renal tubular cells produced by IBN are similar to renal tubular cells taken from living kidney samples. For example, they have the same genetic code and very similar protein structure. In addition, since human embryonic stem cells can grow infinitely in a cell culture environment, IBN researchers have found an unlimited potential source of human kidney cells.

'We are testing an approach that uses induced pluripotent stem cells as a source of kidney cells ,' said Karthikeyan Narayanan, IBN senior research scientist. plan to adjust methods to create other types of kidney cells from stem cells ".

IBN researchers examined kidney cells that they created in biological test models for toxicology developed by the Institute, and obtained promising test results. This organization welcomes industry partners to collaborate with IBN to commercialize this technology.

IBN has recently received a grant from the A * STAR Program Intergovernmental Office to further develop a prediction of in vitro research models for the liver and especially renal toxicity. .

This project will be carried out in cooperation with Experimental Therapeutics Center, Bioinformatics Institute and National Medical University systems.