Reforming the kidney starting from a single-cell suspension.

Background: Chronic kidney disease affects 5-7% of people worldwide. The increasing number of patients and the shortage of transplantable organs create an imperative need to develop new methods for generating kidney tissue.

Summary: Recent advances in our understanding of the developmental biology of the kidney, along with the establishment of novel methodologies in the field of regenerative medicine, have created significant potential for kidney regeneration. These advances incorporate both transplantation of metanephric primordia into adult recipients and construction of 'fetal' kidney tissue from suspensions of single cells of metanephric origin. This paper examines these approaches in the context of organ regeneration.

Key messages: The use of transplants of metanephric origin has the advantage over undifferentiated stem cells of already being committed to a renal developmental program. Although several technical difficulties remain to be overcome, the validation of these systems in preclinical models of renal disease will be of decisive importance in the coming years.