Intravenous renal cell transplantation for rats with acute and chronic renal failure

Acute kidney injury (AKI) and chronic renal failure (CKD) are the most challenging problems in nephrology. Multiple therapies have been attempted but these interventions have minimal effects on the eventual outcomes, and all too often the result is end-stage renal disease (ESRD). The only effective therapy for ESRD is renal transplantation but only a small fraction of patients receive transplants. In this work we introduce a novel approach to transplantation designed to regenerate kidneys afflicted by severe AKI or CKD: intravenous renal cell transplantation (IRCT) with adult rat primary renal cells reprogrammed to express the SAA gene localized and engrafted in kidneys of rat recipients that had severe AKI or CKD. IRCT significantly resolved renal dysfunction and limited kidney damage, inflammation, and fibrosis. Severe CKD was successfully improved by IRCT using kidney cells from donor rats or by renal cell self-donation in a form of autotransplantation. We propose that IRCT with adult primary renal cells reprogrammed to express the SAA gene can be used to effectively treat AKI and CKD.