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Guided Differentiation of Mature Kidney Podocytes from Human Induced Pluripotent Stem Cells Under Chemically Defined Conditions
Published on: July 2, 2020
Development of a Highly Differentiated Human Primary Proximal Tubule MPS Model (aProximate MPS Flow)
Francesca Pisapia1, Donovan O'Brien1, Elena Tasinato1,2
1Newcells Biotech Ltd., The Biosphere, Draymans Way, Newcastle Helix, Newcastle upon Tyne NE4 5BX, UK.
Abstract:
The kidney proximal tubule (PT) mediates renal drug elimination in vivo and is a major site of drug-induced toxicity. To reliably assess drug efficacy, it is crucial to construct a model in which PT functions are replicated. Current animal studies have proven poorly predictive of human outcome. To address this, we developed a physiologically relevant micro-physiological system (MPS) model of the human PT, the aProximate MPS Flow platform (Patent No: G001336.GB). In this model, primary human PT cells (hPTCs) are subjected to fluidic media flow and a shear stress of 0.01-0.2 Pa. We observe that these cells replicate the polarity of hPTCs and exhibit a higher expression of all the key transporters of SLC22A6 (OAT1), SLC22A8 (OAT3), SLC22A2 (OCT2), SLC47A1 (MATE1), SLC22A12 (URAT1), SLC2A9 (GLUT9), ABCB1 (MDR1), ABCC2 (MRP2), LRP2 (megalin), CUBN (cubilin), compared with cells grown under static conditions. Immunofluorescence microscopy confirmed an increase in OAT1, OAT3, and cilia protein expression. Increased sensitivity to nephrotoxic protein cisplatin was observed; creatinine and FITC-albumin uptake was significantly increased under fluidic shear stress conditions. Taken together, these data suggest that growing human PT cells under media flow significantly improves the phenotype and function of hPTC monolayers and has benefits to the utility and near-physiology of the model.
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