An option for addressing the shortage of donor kidneys — using those from a pig — is showing promise, according to Wake Forest Baptist Medical Center researchers.
The key piece of the regenerative medicine researchers' strategy is removing all the animal cells from a pig kidney and placing only the organ's structure on a laboratory scaffold.
Their goal is placing a patient's cells in the scaffold, creating an organ less likely to be rejected when inserted into the patient's body. The research was published online recently in the publication Annals of Surgery.
Using pig organ structures in humans is not new. Pig heart valves, removed of cells, have been used for more than 30 years to provide replacements in humans.
"These (pig) kidneys maintain their innate three-dimensional architecture, as well as their vascular system, and may represent the ideal platform for kidney engineering," Dr. Giuseppe Orlando, the study's lead author, said this week. He also is an instructor in surgery and regenerative medicine at Wake Forest Baptist.
Orlando cautioned, however, that the research could require up to five years before reaching clinical trials with humans.
Here's how the research works:
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