A joint research group of the National Institute for Physiological Sciences, the National Institute of Natural Sciences, the University of Tokyo, and Shinshu University has used a special method called the "heterologous cyst complementation method" to insert mouse stem cell-derived kidneys into the body of rats with kidney defects. It was the first successful production in the world.
Although kidney transplantation is an effective treatment for patients with renal failure, the current situation is that there is a chronic shortage of donors.Considering the situation that only about 1 to 2% of the total number of applicants can be transplanted, attempts to create kidneys from human induced pluripotent stem cells (iPS cells) in vitro have been continued. However, it has not yet been possible to produce a three-dimensional kidney of a size suitable for transplantation.
This time, the research group injected several mouse embryonic stem cells (ES cells) into fertilized eggs of rats lacking the Sall1 gene, which is essential for making kidneys, and genetic information on both rats and mice. A chimeric individual with was prepared.By performing the "blastocyst complementation method" in such a procedure, we succeeded in producing (regenerating) a kidney derived from mouse ES cells in the body of a chimeric individual with a defective kidney for the first time in the world.
This result scientifically shows that the kidney can be produced by the heterologous blastocyst complementation method.In the future, if all tissues can be produced from cells derived from pluripotent stem cells, it will lead to the production of less burdensome donor kidneys for transplantation without excessive use of immunosuppressive agents.This is an achievement that is expected to greatly contribute to the development of regenerative medicine for producing transplanted organs.
Paper information:[Nature Communications] Generation of pluripotent stem cell-derived mouse kidneys in Sall1-targeted anephric rats
