A team of scientists has successfully transplanted lab-grown kidneys into pigs and rats, according to a new report in the journal Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences.
The transplanted kidneys were able to successfully pass urine without issue, while past attempts had been hampered by the organ retaining urine and swelling under the added pressure. The study team bypassed this problem by building extra plumbing within the kidneys.
While human trials of lab-grown kidneys are still years away, the study marks the jumping of a key hurdle.
“This is an interesting step forward,” Chris Mason, an expert in stem cells and regenerative medicine at University College London, told BBC News. “The science looks strong and they have good data in animals.”
The future for lab grown organs
“But that’s not to say this will work in humans,” added Mason, who was not directly involved in the study. “We are still years off that. It’s very much mechanistic. It moves us closer to understanding how the plumbing might work.”
“At least with kidneys, we can dialyze patients for a while so there would be time to grow kidneys if that becomes possible,” he said.
In the study, researchers built their kidneys from stem cells. Rather than just growing a kidney for the host animal, the team also grew a drainage tube, as well as a bladder to gather and keep urine. When the team linked up the lab-grown system, urine passed from the transplanted kidney into the transplanted bladder and into the rat bladder. At eight weeks, the transplant was still working well.
Finally, the team duplicated the procedure on a pig, achieving exactly the same results.
In addition to using stem cells to create whole organs for transplant, researchers are also using stem cells to grow organs for diagnostic purposes. According to a report published earlier this year, cancer researchers are using stem cells to grow mini organs to develop personalized cancer treatments.
In the study, the researchers grew miniature tumors similar from cancer patients’ original tumors on miniature organs grow from the patients’ stem cells. The team was able to determine which drugs would be most effective at fighting cancer in each individual.
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Feature Image: Thinkstock
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