Tell me again that we can’t use stem cells…

Just like we did two decades ago- right before the s…t hit the fan and stem cell research was outlawed.  We made a (very crude) kidney using stem cells.  Now, folks smarter and more skilled than us are taking the steps to truly make dialysis a thing of the past.

This new group is harvesting the stem cells from a patient.  And, then growing those cells to produce a kidney replacement.  And, the group is from Israel, which has been perfecting the technique over the past decade.

The team , headed by Dr. Benjamin Dekel (Sheba Medical Center,  where team cohorts Drs. Orit Harari-Steinberg, Dorit Omer, Oren Pleniceanu, Sanja Goldberg, Osnat Cohen-Zontag, Zohar Datan, and Sara Pri-Chen are situated), plus Dr Yehudit Gnatek, Itamar Kanter, and Nissan Ben Haim from Bar Ilan University; Dr. Tomer Kalisky (Sackler Medical of Tel Aviv University), and Drs. Roi Ankawa and Yaron Fuchs (Technion), published their research results in Cell.

Sheba Medical Center provided the funding for this program, along with the Israel Science Foundation, the Israeli Ministry of Health, and the European Union Seventh Framework Programme.

One of the key findings over the past decade was that renal epithelial cells (HKEpCs, proliferative human adult kidney epithelial cells) expand after growing in culture to form three-dimensional spheroids (which this group terms nephrospheres, nSPHs) and then self-organize into renal tubules. But, finding that HKEpCs taken from non-functioning end-stage human kidney can can form viable nSPHs was crucial for this success.  It means one can take the cells from the patient’s own non-functional kidney, affording an autologous graft that will not be rejected after the nephrospheres are incorporated back into the patient.

So, the team cultured the renal epithelial cells, extracted from poorly functioning or non-functioning kidneys,  in a dish.  Then, the media is changed, affording the cells the ability to form 3-dimensional  structures (nephrospheres).  This change from cell culture (2D) to 3D affords the nephrospheres (nSPHs) the ability to organize into renal tubular structures.  The cell systems are then inserted into the mice, which had impaired renal function- and the nephrospheres restored normal functionality.

Of course, right now, unless the patient is a mouse, there isn’t any solution. But, if we can do this in mice, we should be able to do this in humans.

But this also means that the ban on stem cell research will not affect this novel concept one iota.  And, the next step is to have KidneyCure Bio (a Tel Aviv firm) [note that Dr. Dekel is a principal (Chief Scientific Officer and Medical Advisor) in the firm] scale the process up and include humans in the study.

We’re waiting with baited breath.

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