Construction of kidney organoid and its application
10.12464/j.issn.1674-7445.2026105
- VernacularTitle:肾脏类器官的构建及其应用
- Author:
Jiang QIU
1
Author Information
1. Organ Transplant Center of the First Affiliated Hospital of Sun Yat-sen University, Guangzhou 510080, China.
- Publication Type:Editorial
- Keywords:
Kidney organoid;
Kidney transplantation;
Induced pluripotent stem cell;
Kidney tubular organoid;
Transplantation immunity;
Vascularization;
Donor kidney repair;
Regenerative medicine
- From:
Organ Transplantation
2026;17(4):519-525
- CountryChina
- Language:Chinese
-
Abstract:
Kidney transplantation is an important treatment method for end-stage renal disease, but its long-term efficacy is still limited by factors such as shortage of donor kidneys, decline in donor kidney quality, ischemia-reperfusion injury, rejection reactions and chronic graft failure. Traditional monitoring methods have deficiencies in sensitivity, specificity and dynamic assessment, and there is an urgent need to establish new research models that are closer to the development, structure and functional characteristics of human kidneys. Kidney organoids are organ-like structures formed by stem cells or progenitor cells under three-dimensional culture conditions. Broadly speaking, they include kidney organoids derived from induced pluripotent stem cell (iPSC) and renal tubule organoids from adult or primary sources. This article focuses on iPSC-derived kidney organoids and systematically summarizes their definition, development history and applications in the study of kidney development mechanisms, modeling of hereditary and acquired kidney diseases, drug screening and evaluation of renal toxicity, and precision medicine research. In recent years, with the continuous development of induction differentiation systems, progenitor cell expansion, vascularization engineering, collection system integration and spatial assembly strategies, kidney organoids have shown significant potential in the field of organ transplantation and can be used for pre-translation research such as study of transplantation immune mechanisms, simulation of rejection, assessment of recurrence risk after transplantation, in vitro repair of donor kidneys and normothermic mechanical perfusion delivery. Currently, kidney organoids cannot replace whole kidney transplantation, and their clinical translation is still constrained by factors such as insufficient maturity, limited vascular integration, incomplete urine drainage pathways, ectopic differentiation and uncertainty of long-term safety. In the future, constructing engineered kidney tissues with stable vascularization, continuous filtration, effective drainage and long-term host functional integration capabilities will be a key direction for promoting kidney organoids from basic research to transplantation transformation applications.
