As many as 2 million people worldwide are suffering end stage kidney failure, also known as end stage renal disease (ESRD). While some sufferers of kidney disease are able to obtain a transplant there is a dire lack of donors. In 2016 in the US alone there were 100,000 people in need of a kidney transplant and only 21,000 donors, many of whom are not suitable for the transplants needed. Today many on the donation list wait five to ten years to receive the transplant they need, meaning long-term use of kidney dialysis machines that carry out the work of the kidney.
The Kidney Project has now developed a new artificial kidney that could hopefully end the need for dialysis. In effect they have created a working artificial kidney that can be manufactured and therefore does not require a kidney donor. The team at the University of California San Francisco announced in late 2019 that they were able to implant a bio-artificial kidney into pigs without doing the animals any harm. It is now hoped the same machines can be used in humans.
The machine, which is still awaiting clinical trials and endorsement from the Food and Drug Administration (FDA), uses a blood filtration system known as a hemofilter, which removes toxins from the blood via silicone membranes and involves cultures of human kidney cells that act like a normal human kidney.
Kidney Project co-lead Shuvo Roy of the UCSF Schools of Pharmacy and Medicine said,
“This is the first demonstration that kidney cells can be implanted successfully in a large animal without immunosuppression and remain healthy enough to perform their function. This is a key milestone for us. Based on these results, we can now focus on scaling up the bioreactor and combining it with the blood filtration component of the artificial kidney … Advancing a complex cell therapy like this into the clinic will not be a trivial task — for instance, it will require substantial investments in cell production and characterization in controlled GMP facilities to avoid any possibility of contamination. Now we’ve confirmed that we’re on the right track to move forward with these efforts”.
You can find out more about this amazing breakthrough via the video below. Our hats are off to this remarkable team for giving hope and a better future to sufferers of kidney disease!
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