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Kidney diseases have been rising worldwide and are expected to increase in the coming decades. This urges for novel research models to understand kidney (patho)physiology and advance the development of effective therapies for (rare) kidney diseases. In recent years, stem cell derived kidney organoids and tubuloids have been described as mini organs that researchers can grow in the lab. Researchers from Radboudumc (Emre Dilmen, Idil Orhon and Joost Hoenderop) and RWTH Aachen University (Jitske Jansen) have been working extensively with these models and have recently published a review providing an overview of the current state of these models and what they mean translational and personalized medicine now and in the future.
Kidney organoids are made by mimicking the development of the kidney and create truly remarkable mini kidneys that consist of epithelial, stromal, and vascular cells. These models have been used to model diseases like polycystic kidney disease, idiopathic nephrotic syndrome and COVID-19-induced fibrosis. Also, they were proven able to mimic kidney-specific function including endocrine activity and ion transport through functional channels and transporters. Tubuloids that consist of only epithelial cells can be easily obtained from the urine and have a relatively stable and physiological expression profile that resemble a more mature kidney. These models have been used to study kidney cancer, viral infections and (patient derived) cystic fibrosis. Tubuloids have shown to be able to respond to (drug induced) injury, drug transport and physiological chloride and sodium transport.
These models hold great promise for the future of kidney research in areas of disease modeling, therapy development and personal and regenerative medicine. Therefore, we will continue to contribute to this exciting field! Read more about these developments in the publication below:
Read the publication here:
Dilmen E, Orhon I, Jansen J, Hoenderop JGJ. Advancements in kidney organoids and tubuloids to study (dys)function. Trends Cell Biol. 2023 Oct 19:S0962-8924(23)00197-6. doi: 10.1016/j.tcb.2023.09.005. Epub ahead of print. PMID: 37865608.
