多能干细胞诱导分化为肾脏类器官的研究进展与挑战

Research progress and challenges of differentiation of pluripotent stem cells into kidney organoids

用于分化为多种类型细胞的多能干细胞(PSC)体外培养技术已被广泛应用于生物学领域中。由PSC分化而来的肾脏类器官可基本还原生物体内肾脏的组织结构和部分功能,在肾脏疾病模型研究和药物筛选中有重要作用,继续改善肾脏类器官的结构、功能和成熟度将会对肾脏再生治疗提供极大的帮助。研究肾脏类器官的重点在于体外准确模拟体内肾脏的发育过程。本文着重归纳了近十年来对胚胎肾发育过程研究的重点,对肾脏类器官分化技术的几个关键方案进行总结、分析和比较,并探讨肾脏类器官在分化研究和应用中将面临的挑战。

In biology,in vitro culture of pluripotent stem cells has been widely used to differentiate into various types of cells.Kidney organs derived from pluripotent stem cells can basically restore the tissue structure and partial function of kidney.It plays an important role in the research of kidney disease model and drug screening,and helps to improve the structure,function and maturity of kidney like organs,and is helpful to the treatment of kidney regeneration.Accurate simulation of kidney development in vitro is the focus in kidney organ research.The key point in kidney organoids study is to accurately simulate the development process of kidney in vitro.In this review,we summarize,analyze,and compare key points for kidney organoid differentiation techniques with focus on the process of embryonic kidney development over the past decade,and discuss the challenges for kidney organoids in differentiation research and applications.