Y’all must know that nephrology has a special place in my heart and psyche. For some reason, I decided that an artificial kidney should be something I would develop (beginning at the age of 8). And, for more than 1/3 of my years on this earth, at least 1/3 of my time (as measured in 24 hour cycles) was devoted to dialysis, renal treatment, and the various associated maladies and physiological ramifications to kidney functions.
I really thought we would be able to have stem-cell generated kidneys by now. OK. Let’s get real. I really thought that would have been the case more than a decade ago. But, I failed to recognize the political BS (or is that religious taboos) associated with the discrimination against methodologies that would make our lives more tenable.
So, I was thrilled to hear we are finally making progress. Dr. Benjamin Dekel (Tel Aviv University) and Dr. Irving Weissman (Stanford University) headed a group (Drs. Rinkevich, Montoro, Contreras-Trujillo, Harari-Steinberg, Newman, Tsai, Lim, Van-Amerongen, Bowman, Januszyk, Pleniceanua, Nusse, and Longaker) that published results of their work in Cell Reports.
The research focused on single cell level, not the organ level. And, their research blows away the common belief that our kidney cells are static. Instead, it seems that the renal cells are continually growing. The advent of this research began when Dekel was visiting at Stanford- and continued after he returned to his home institution. (The research continued at both universities.)
Weissman’s group had been using “rainbow mice”. This means the mice expressed fluorescent markers at the triggering of certain events- which allowed the researchers to examine cell growth. The interesting finding was that this growth was multi-directional and not dependent upon stem cells. (It was compartmentalized, though). Each nephron (the building block of a kidney) was responsible for its own development, growing at its own pace and directions. (Imagine the branches of a tree.)
Because of the use of the rainbow mouse, specific molecules that were critical for the cellular growth were identified and termed the “WNT signal”. Once these specialized cells were activated, the signal led to formidable cell growth and long branches of cells.
Now, the trick is to activate this phenomena and force kidney regeneration in humans, thereby leading to patient improvement.
Great progress. And I can only imagine you as an 8 year old!
Thanks, Alessa, for the comment.
I am not sure I recall enough to describe it- but I have three children whose year 8 reminds me of things- and a grandchild who is clearly on that path…
You have some admirable goals to improve the lives of those with kidney ailments. I do hope that those can come to fruition during our lifetime and it sounds like it is possible!
Suerae Stein recently posted..Garden Invasion
Suerae, this knowledge- that our existing nephrons can continue growing and morphing means that waiting for stem cells to pass muster with the politicians and the religious fanatics may no longer hold us back. At least, when it comes to kidneys.
Well the first step is the mice, Now let us hope that they can get to the human level during out lifetimes. Perhaps, working in Tel Aviv instead of Stanford will see more progress and less red tape by governments and companies that want to get their claws on the research so that they can make it so costly nobody will be able to afford it once the process is complete.
Chef William Chaney recently posted..Food And Sun Damage.
That’s my thought, as well, Chef William.
This artificial construct blocking our progress in developing proper therapies has to go.
Thanks for the visit and the comment.
It still sounds like science fiction but I sincerely hope that, one day, such technology will improve the care of such ailments.
Muriel recently posted..Getting Too Much Attention 20 Years Too Late…
That’s the great thing about science fiction, Muriel. We get to think about how things could be – and conceive of ways to make them so!