The role of a bioengineered artificial kidney in renal failure.

Renal failure continues to carry substantial burden of morbidity and mortality in both acute and chronic forms, despite advances in transplantation and dialysis. There is evidence to suggest that the kidney has metabolic, endocrine, and immune effects transcending its filtration functions, even beyond secretion of renin and erythropoietin. Our laboratory has developed experience in the tissue culture of renal parenchymal cells, and has now been able to demonstrate the metabolic activity of these cells in an extracorporeal circuit recapitulating glomerulotubular anatomy. We have observed active transport of sodium, glucose, and glutathione. We describe the design and initial preclinical testing of the bioartificial kidney, as well as future directions of our research.

Tissue engineering of a bioartificial renal tubule assist device: in vitro transport and metabolic characteristics.

BACKGROUND: Current renal substitution therapy for acute or chronic renal failure with hemodialysis or hemofiltration is life sustaining, but continues to have unacceptably high morbidity and mortality rates. This therapy is not complete renal replacement therapy because it does not provide active transport nor metabolic and endocrinologic functions of the kidney, which are located predominantly in the tubular elements of the kidney. METHODS: To optimize renal substitution therapy, a bioartificial renal tubule assist device (RAD) was developed and tested in vitro for a variety of differentiated tubular functions. High-flux hollow-fiber hemofiltration cartridges with membrane surface areas of 97 cm2 or 0. 4 m2 were used as tubular scaffolds. Porcine renal proximal tubule cells were seeded into the intraluminal spaces of the hollow fibers, which were pretreated with a synthetic extracellular matrix protein. Attached cells were expanded in the cartridge as a bioreactor system to produce confluent monolayers containing up to 1.5 x 109 cells (3. 5 x 105 cells/cm2). Near confluency was achieved along the entire membrane surface, with recovery rates for perfused inulin exceeding 97 and 95% in the smaller and larger units, respectively, compared with less than 60% recovery in noncell units. RESULTS: A single-pass perfusion system was used to assess transport characteristics of the RADs. Vectorial fluid transport from intraluminal space to antiluminal space was demonstrated and was significantly increased with the addition of albumin to the antiluminal side and inhibited by the addition of ouabain, a specific inhibitor of Na+,K+-ATPase. Other transport activities were also observed in these devices and included active bicarbonate transport, which was decreased with acetazolamide, a carbonic anhydrase inhibitor, active glucose transport, which was suppressed with phlorizin, a specific inhibitor of the sodium-dependent glucose transporters, and para-aminohippurate (PAH) secretion, which was diminished with the anion transport inhibitor probenecid. A variety of differentiated metabolic functions was also demonstrated in the RAD. Intraluminal glutathione breakdown and its constituent amino acid uptake were suppressed with the irreversible inhibitor of gamma-glutamyl transpeptidase acivicin; ammonia production was present and incremented with declines in perfusion pH. Finally, endocrinological activity with conversion of 25-hydroxy(OH)-vitamin D3 to 1,25-(OH)2 vitD3 was demonstrated in the RAD. This conversion activity was up-regulated with parathyroid hormone and down-regulated with increasing inorganic phosphate levels, which are well-defined physiological regulators of this process in vivo. CONCLUSIONS: These results clearly demonstrate the successful tissue engineering of a bioartificial RAD that possesses critical differentiated transport, and improves metabolic and endocrinological functions of the kidney. This device, when placed in series with conventional hemofiltration therapy, may provide incremental renal replacement support and potentially may decrease the high morbidity and mortality rates observed in patients with renal failure.

Replacement of renal function in uremic animals with a tissue-engineered kidney.

Current renal substitution therapy with hemodialysis or hemofiltration has been the only successful long-term ex vivo organ substitution therapy to date. Although this approach is life sustaining, it is still unacceptably suboptimal with poor clinical outcomes of patients with either chronic end-stage renal disease or acute renal failure. This current therapy utilizes synthetic membranes to substitute for the small solute clearance function of the renal glomerulus but does not replace the transport, metabolic, and endocrinologic functions of the tubular cells. The addition of tubule cell replacement therapy in a tissue-engineered bioartificial kidney comprising both biologic and synthetic components will likely optimize renal replacement to improve clinical outcomes. This report demonstrates that the combination of a synthetic hemofiltration device and a renal tubule cell therapy device containing porcine renal tubule cells in an extracorporeal perfusion circuit successfully replaces filtration, transport, metabolic, and endocrinologic functions of the kidney in acutely uremic dogs.

Tissue engineering of a bioartificial renal tubule.

Development of a bioartificial renal tubule with a confluent monolayer of renal epithelial cells supported on a permeable synthetic surface may be the first step to further optimization of renal substitution therapy currently used with hemodialysis or hemofiltration. Madin-Darby canine kidney cells, a permanent renal epithelial cell line, were seeded into the lumen of single hollow fibers. Functional confluence of the cells was demonstrated by the recovery of intraluminally perfused 14C-inulin that averaged >98.9% in the cell lined units vs <7.4% in the control noncell hollow fibers during identical pressure and flow conditions. The baseline absolute fluid transport rate averaged 1.4+/-0.4 microl/30 min. To test the dependency of fluid flux with oncotic and osmotic pressure differences across the bioartificial tubule, albumin was added to the extracapillary space, followed by the addition of ouabain, an inhibitor of Na+K+ adenosine triphosphatase, the enzyme responsible for active transport across the renal epithelium. Addition of albumin resulted in a significant increase in volume transport to 4.5+/-1.0 microl/30 min. Addition of ouabain inhibited transport back to baseline levels of 2.1+/-0.4 microl/30 min. These results are the first demonstration that renal epithelial cells have been grown successfully as a confluent monolayer along a hollow fiber, and exhibit functional transport capabilities. The next steps in constructing a bioartificial renal tubule successfully are to develop a multi-fiber bioreactor with primary renal proximal tubule cells that maintain not only transport properties but also differentiated metabolic and endocrine functions, including glucose and ammonia production, and the conversion of vitamin D3 to a more active derivative. A renal tubule device may add critical renal functional components not currently substituted for, thereby improving the treatment regimens for patients with acute and chronic renal failure.

The bioartificial renal tubule assist device to enhance CRRT in acute renal failure.

Current therapy for acute tubular necrosis (ATN) continues to have an exceedingly high mortality rate, exceeding 50% even with dialytic or hemofiltrative support. Current renal replacement therapy in ATN only substitutes for filtration function of the kidney but not its cellular metabolic functions. Replacing these metabolic functions may optimize current therapy for this devastating disease process. In this regard, a renal tubule assist device (RAD) has been developed to be placed in an extracorporeal continuous hemoperfusion circuit in series with a hemofilter. The RAD consists of porcine renal proximal tubule cells grown as confluent monolayers of a multifiber bioreactor with a membrane surface area from 0.4 to 1.6 m2. The cells along the inner surface of the hollow fibers are immunoprotected from the patient's blood by the hollow fiber membrane. In preliminary experiments in uremic dogs, this device has been shown to tolerate a uremic environment while providing reabsorptive, metabolic, and endocrinologic activity. Pilot human trials of the RAD are anticipated within the next year to improve current renal replacement therapy in ATN.

Acute renal failure: growth factors, cell therapy, and gene therapy.

The rapid understanding of the cellular and molecular basis of organ function and disease will be translated during the next several decades into new therapeutic approaches to a wide range of clinical disorders, including acute renal failure (ARF). The development of the biotechnology for recombinant genetic engineering has led to the prospect of using purified protein products for therapy. In this regard, the repair of ischemic and toxic ARF is critically dependent on a redundant, interactive cytokine network of growth factors to return kidney function to near normal baseline function. Recombinant growth factors are being tested both experimentally and clinically to accelerate the repair of kidney tissue in this disorder. A newer strategy in biotechnology is the development of cell therapy derivatives. Cell therapy is based on the ability to expand specific cells in tissue culture to perform differentiated tasks and to introduce these cells into the patient either in extracorporeal circuits or as implants as drug delivery vehicles of a single protein or to provide physiological functions. Cell therapy devices are being developed to replace components of renal function that are lost during ARF and chronic renal failure and are not replaced with current hemodialysis or hemofiltration. These new approaches may result in therapeutic modalities that diminish the degree of renal failure and the time needed to recover renal function in acute tubular necrosis. This article examines the future prospects of these developing therapies in the treatment of ARF.