Japanese Researchers Generate 3D Kidney Tissue

Researchers in Japan have successfully generated three-dimensional kidney tissue using only cultured mouse embryonic stem (ES) cells. The results are a major step forward for kidney research and the eventual creation of artificial kidneys for humans.

Dr. Ryuichi Nishinakamura and colleagues at Kumamoto University (KU) credit the  advance to successfully solving three challenges. Protocols to address the first two—inducing nephron progenitor and ureteric bud from mouse ES cells—were already established by various research teams, including Dr. Nishinakamura’s group at KU’s Institute of Molecular Embryology and Genetics (IMEG). In their most recent work, the IMEG team developed a method to induce the third and final component: kidney-specific stromal progenitor.  By combining these three components in vitro, the researchers were able to generate a kidney-like 3D tissue, consisting of extensively branched tubules and several other kidney-specific structures.

“Despite recent advances in organoid technology, induction of organ-specific stroma and recapitulation of complex organ configurations from pluripotent stem cells (PSCs) have remained challenging,” according to the paper. “By elucidating the in vivo molecular features of the renal stromal lineage at a single-cell resolution level, we herein establish an in vitro induction protocol for stromal progenitors (SPs) from mouse PSCs.”

The researchers believe that this is the first ever report on in-lab generation of such a complex kidney structure from scratch. The IMEG team has already succeeded in inducing the first two components from human iPS cells. If this last component can also be generated from human cells, a similarly complex human kidney should be achievable.

“We are now working very hard to generate a fully functional human kidney,” said Dr. Nishinakamura. “We hope to use our developments to screen drugs for various diseases, and for transplantation in the long run.”

The paper, entitled Generation of the organotypic kidney structure by integrating pluripotent stem cell-derived renal stroma, was published recently in Nature Communications.