Is regenerative medicine a new hope for kidney replacement?

Abstract

The availability of kidney and other organs from matching donors is not enough for many patients on demand for organ transplant. Unfortunately, this situation is not better despite the many of new interesting projects of promoting family, cross or domino transplants. These inexorable global statistics forced medical researchers to find a new potential therapeutic option that would guarantee safety and efficacy for the treatment of ESRD comparable to kidney transplantation. The aim of our review is to summarize the scientific literature that relating to the modern as well as innovative experimental methods and possibilities of kidney regeneration and, in addition, to find whether the regenerative medicine field will be a new hope for curing the patient with renal disease complications. The most important achievements in the field of regenerative medicine of kidney, which were mentioned and described here, are currently cumulated in 4 areas of interest: stem cell-based therapies, neo-kidneys with specially designed scaffolds or cell-seeded matrices, bioartificial kidneys and innovative nanotechnologically bioengineered solutions. Nowadays, we can add some remarks that the regenerative medicine is still insufficient to completely replace current therapy methods used in patients with chronic kidney disease especially with the end-stage renal disease where in many cases kidney transplantation is the only one chance. But we think that development of regenerative medicine especially in the last 20 years brings us more and more closer to solve many of today's problems at the frontier of nephrology and transplantology.

Novel surgical techniques, regenerative medicine, tissue engineering and innovative immunosuppression in kidney transplantation

“…Complete kidney regeneration using tissue-engineering methods is still at an experimental stage [ 84 , 88 ]. Problems remain developing BAK-based treatments which can be used safely on all patients who qualify for renal replacement.…”

Are agricultural and natural sources of bio-products important for modern regenerative medicine? A review

“…Nevertheless, there is enough evidence to conclude that continuing advances in agriculture are likely to play a key role in the future development of numerous systemic and local medical procedures in the fields of tissue engineering and regenerative medicine. Within both, agriculture has had a continually increasing influence which could lead to the biotechnological modification of methods in plant cultivation and livestock breeding to obtain specially designed and targeted bio-products [49,50]. Similarly, materials and substances derived from the natural environment can also be expected to have a significant impact, current developments suggesting better treatment being applied to prospective patients in the future.…”

Advances in the Knowledge about Kidney Decellularization and Repopulation

“…Despite the good results obtained in applying ES cells for organ recellularization, ethical questions and the teratogenic potential of ES may limit the use of these cells for organ repopulation (Nowacki et al, 2014). One possible alternative is the use of autologous adult stem cells that do not require direct ethical questions, do not lead to immunologic responses, and can be obtained in minimally invasive processes.…”