Stem Cell Transplant Succeeds in Curing Kidney Failure in Rats

Mainichi Daily News
21 June 2005

A research team led by the University of Tokyo has succeeded in curing renal failure in rats by transplanting somatic stem cells of kidneys from healthy rats.

The team announced the results of their research in the June 20 issue of a U.S. science magazine, "Journal of Cell Biology."

Somatic stem cells are a type of cell in an organ that can multiply and develop into a variety of other cells of that specific organ. Such cells cannot, however, transform into cells of other organs.

Experts have expressed hope that the method can be applied to cure renal failure in humans, noting that human kidneys have similar somatic stem cells.


"It's been confirmed that somatic stem cells in kidneys are capable of not only creating new cells but also restoring damaged organs. We may be able to develop drugs aimed at (activating) somatic stem cells," said University of Tokyo Associate Prof. Keiichi Hishikawa, a member of the research team.

The research team has identified the gene of somatic stem cells in rat kidneys, and confirmed that such cells exist only in parts of rat kidneys called stroma. The team has also discovered that somatic stem cells in kidneys are capable of developing into blood vessels and renal tubules.

In the experiment, the team transplanted 10,000 kidney somatic stem cells into the ailing kidney of each laboratory rat with renal failure.

Blood tests conducted on the rats seven days later found that their kidney functions had returned to normal.

Researchers said they believe that the transplanted somatic stem cells restored the damaged kidney cells, noting that the number of somatic stem cells in the rats had decreased to about 30 percent of that in healthy rats' kidneys.

The research team also found somatic stem cells in human kidneys extracted from kidney disease sufferers after examining the organs with the consent of the patients and the University of Tokyo Hospital's ethics committee.

The researchers are poised to study how to multiply somatic stem cells extracted from human kidneys in a bid to develop a method for returning artificially multiplied cells back to the patients' kidneys. It will also study medication aimed at activating genes that cause somatic stem cells to restore damaged kidney cells.

As of the end of 2003, about 237,000 patients with chronic renal failure were regularly undergoing artificial dialysis. (Mainichi)