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Reviews

Application of Regenerative Medicine for Kidney Diseases

Takashi Yokoo, Aikira Fukui and Eiji Kobayashi
Volume 3, Issue 1
January/February/March 2007
Pages 34 - 43

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Following recent advancements of stem cell research, the potential for organ regeneration using somatic stem cells as an ultimate therapy for organ failure has increased. However, anatomically complicated organs such as the kidney and liver have proven more refractory to stem cell-based regenerative techniques. At present, kidney regeneration is considered to require one of two approaches depending on the type of renal failure, namely acute renal failure (ARF) and chronic renal failure (CRF).
The kidney has the potential to regenerate itself provided that the damage is not too severe and the kidney’s structure remains intact. Regenerative medicine for ARF should therefore aim to activate or support this potent. In cases of the irreversible damage to the kidney, which is most likely in patients with CRF undergoing long-term dialysis, self-renewal is totally lost. Thus, regenerative medicine for CRF will likely involve the establishment of a functional whole kidney de novo. This article reviews the challenges and recent advances in both approaches and discusses the potential approach of these novel strategies for clinical application.


Authors

Takashi Yokoo
The Jikei University School of Medicine; Tokyo, Japan
Aikira Fukui
The Jikei University School of Medicine; Tokyo, Japan
Eiji Kobayashi
The Jikei University School of Medicine; Tokyo, Japan

We now provide open access to journal articles published online for one year or more. This article may be downloaded at the following link:

 Download PDF

If the document does not open, please right-click on the link (control-click on a Macintosh) and select the option to save the file to disk.

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