Long HY, Qian ZP, Lan Q, Xu YJ, Da JJ, Yu FX, Zha Y. Human pluripotent stem cell-derived kidney organoids: Current progress and challenges. World J Stem Cells 2024; 16(2): 114-125 [PMID: 38455108 DOI: 10.4252/wjsc.v16.i2.114]
Corresponding Author of This Article
Yan Zha, PhD, Chief Physician, Professor, Graduate School, Zunyi Medical University, Xinpu New District, Zunyi 563000, Guizhou Province, China. zhayan72@126.com
Research Domain of This Article
Cell Biology
Article-Type of This Article
Minireviews
Open-Access Policy of This Article
This article is an open-access article which was selected by an in-house editor and fully peer-reviewed by external reviewers. It is distributed in accordance with the Creative Commons Attribution Non Commercial (CC BY-NC 4.0) license, which permits others to distribute, remix, adapt, build upon this work non-commercially, and license their derivative works on different terms, provided the original work is properly cited and the use is non-commercial. See: http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc/4.0/
World J Stem Cells. Feb 26, 2024; 16(2): 114-125 Published online Feb 26, 2024. doi: 10.4252/wjsc.v16.i2.114
Human pluripotent stem cell-derived kidney organoids: Current progress and challenges
Hong-Yan Long, Zu-Ping Qian, Qin Lan, Yong-Jie Xu, Jing-Jing Da, Fu-Xun Yu, Yan Zha
Hong-Yan Long, Zu-Ping Qian, Qin Lan, Yan Zha, Graduate School, Zunyi Medical University, Zunyi 563000, Guizhou Province, China
Yong-Jie Xu, Department of Laboratory Medicine, Guizhou Provincial People’s Hospital, Guiyang 550002, Guizhou Province, China
Jing-Jing Da, Yan Zha, Department of Nephrology, Guizhou Provincial People’s Hospital, Guiyang 550002, Guizhou Province, China
Fu-Xun Yu, Key Laboratory of Diagnosis and Treatment of Pulmonary Immune Diseases, National Health Commission, Guizhou Provincial People’s Hospital, Guiyang 550002, Guizhou Province, China
Author contributions: All authors listed have significantly contributed to the development and the writing of this article.
Supported bythe National Natural Science Foundation of China, No. 82360148; and Guizhou Science & Technology Department, No. QKHPTRC2018-5636-2 and No. QKHPTRC2020-2201.
Conflict-of-interest statement: All the authors report no relevant conflicts of interest for this article.
Open-Access: This article is an open-access article that was selected by an in-house editor and fully peer-reviewed by external reviewers. It is distributed in accordance with the Creative Commons Attribution NonCommercial (CC BY-NC 4.0) license, which permits others to distribute, remix, adapt, build upon this work non-commercially, and license their derivative works on different terms, provided the original work is properly cited and the use is non-commercial. See: https://creativecommons.org/Licenses/by-nc/4.0/
Corresponding author: Yan Zha, PhD, Chief Physician, Professor, Graduate School, Zunyi Medical University, Xinpu New District, Zunyi 563000, Guizhou Province, China. zhayan72@126.com
Received: October 23, 2023 Peer-review started: October 23, 2023 First decision: December 5, 2023 Revised: December 18, 2023 Accepted: January 29, 2024 Article in press: January 29, 2024 Published online: February 26, 2024 Processing time: 125 Days and 16.9 Hours
Abstract
Human pluripotent stem cell (hPSC)-derived kidney organoids share similarities with the fetal kidney. However, the current hPSC-derived kidney organoids have some limitations, including the inability to perform nephrogenesis and lack of a corticomedullary definition, uniform vascular system, and coordinated exit pathway for urinary filtrate. Therefore, further studies are required to produce hPSC-derived kidney organoids that accurately mimic human kidneys to facilitate research on kidney development, regeneration, disease modeling, and drug screening. In this review, we discussed recent advances in the generation of hPSC-derived kidney organoids, how these organoids contribute to the understanding of human kidney development and research in disease modeling. Additionally, the limitations, future research focus, and applications of hPSC-derived kidney organoids were highlighted.
Core Tip: Pluripotent stem cells (PSCs) are a class of cells with self-renewal and multidirectional differentiation potential, and organoids are a group of tissue analogues induced to form three-dimensional (3D) structures that are structurally and functionally very similar to human organs under specific differentiation conditions. We review research progress on how renal organoid induction protocols can well mimic the human foetal model of renal development and disease. The discovery of human PSCs, and the recent 3D organoid generation methods have opened avenues for in vitro mimicry of human kidney development, disease research, and testing of new drugs directly on human tissue.
