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Isogenic Kidney Glomerulus Chip Engineered from Human Induced Pluripotent Stem Cells
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Studying Kidney Disease Using Tissue and Genome Engineering in Human Pluripotent Stem Cells
Elena Garreta1, Federico González, Núria Montserrat
1Pluripotent Stem Cells and Activation of Endogenous Tissue Programs for Organ Regeneration (PR Lab), Institute for Bioengineering of Catalonia (IBEC), The Barcelona Institute of Science and Technology, Barcelona, Spain.
Nephron
|October 9, 2017
Summary
Human pluripotent stem cells (hPSCs) are now differentiated into kidney organoids, enabling disease modeling. Combining hPSCs with CRISPR/Cas9 gene editing offers new avenues for studying kidney development and disease.
Area of Science:
- Developmental Biology
- Stem Cell Biology
- Regenerative Medicine
Background:
- Kidney development and patterning are complex processes extensively studied in animal models.
- Recent advancements allow differentiation of human pluripotent stem cells (hPSCs) into kidney lineages.
- Kidney organoids, 3D tissues recapitulating kidney structure and function, are a significant breakthrough.
Purpose of the Study:
- To review recent advances in differentiating hPSCs into kidney lineages.
- To highlight the integration of CRISPR/Cas9 genome engineering with kidney organoids.
- To discuss the potential of these platforms for studying human kidney development and disease.
Main Methods:
- Utilizing 2D culture systems and 3D organoid generation for hPSC differentiation.
- Employing CRISPR/Cas9 gene editing to introduce specific genetic mutations in hPSCs.
- Developing kidney organoids with engineered genetic mutations to model kidney diseases.
Main Results:
- Successful differentiation of hPSCs into kidney progenitor populations.
- Generation of kidney organoids capable of recapitulating kidney structure and function in vitro.
- Creation of hPSC-derived kidney organoids exhibiting phenotypes of polycystic kidney disease and glomerulopathies.
Conclusions:
- hPSC-derived kidney organoids combined with CRISPR/Cas9 technology are powerful tools for studying kidney development.
- These platforms offer unprecedented opportunities for modeling human kidney diseases in vitro.
- Future research can leverage these advancements for therapeutic target identification and drug screening.
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