Kidney regeneration approaches for translation.

The increase in the incidence of chronic kidney diseases that progress to end-stage renal disease has become a significant health problem worldwide. While dialysis can maintain and prolong survival, the only definitive treatment that can restore renal function is transplantation. Unfortunately, many of these patients die waiting for transplantable kidneys due to the severe shortage of donor organs. Tissue engineering and regenerative medicine approaches have been applied in recent years to develop viable therapies that could provide solutions to these patients. Cell-based and cell-free approaches have been proposed to address the challenges associated with chronic kidney diseases. Strategies and progress toward developing alternative therapeutic options will be reviewed.

The Delivery of the Recombinant Protein Cocktail Identified by Stem Cell-Derived Secretome Analysis Accelerates Kidney Repair After Renal Ischemia-Reperfusion Injury.

Recent advances in cell therapy have shown the potential to treat kidney diseases. As the treatment effects of the cell therapies are mainly attributed to secretomes released from the transplanted cells, the delivery of secretomes or conditioned medium (CM) has emerged as a promising treatment option for kidney disease. We previously demonstrated that the controlled delivery of human placental stem cells (hPSC)-derived CM using platelet-rich plasma (PRP) ameliorated renal damages and restored kidney function in an acute kidney injury (AKI) model in rats. The proteomics study of the hPSC-CM revealed that hPSC secrets several proteins that contribute to kidney tissue repair. Based on our results, this study proposed that the proteins expressed in the hPSC-CM and effective for kidney repair could be used as a recombinant protein cocktail to treat kidney diseases as an alternative to CM. In this study, we analyzed the secretome profile of hPSC-CM and identified five proteins (follistatin, uPAR, ANGPLT4, HGF, VEGF) that promote kidney repair. We investigated the feasibility of delivering the recombinant protein cocktail to improve structural and functional recovery after AKI. The pro-proliferative and anti-apoptotic effects of the protein cocktail on renal cells are demonstrated in vitro and in vivo. The intrarenal delivery of these proteins with PRP ameliorates the renal tubular damage and improved renal function in the AKI-induced rats, yielding similar therapeutic effects compared to the CM delivery. These results indicate that our strategy may provide a therapeutic solution to many challenges associated with kidney repair resulting from the lack of suitable off-the-shelf regenerative medicine products.

The Positive Correlations between the Expression of Histopathological Ubiquitin-Conjugating Enzyme 2O Staining and Prostate Cancer Advancement.

BACKGROUND: The mTOR signaling pathway is inactivated by AMPK's tumor-suppressing function. It is recognized that ubiquitin conjugating enzyme 2O (UBE2O), which directly targets AMPK for ubiquitination and degradation, is intensified in human cancers. METHODS: This study investigated the clinical data about prostate cancer. Examination was also carried out into tissue microarrays (TMA) of human prostate cancer (n = 382) and adjacent non-neoplastic tissues around prostate cancer (n = 61). The TMA slides were incubated with antibodies against UBE2O, and the cores were scored by the pathologist blind to cancer results. RESULTS: Very strong positive correlations were identified between the expression of UBE2O staining and high PSA and pathological stage of prostate cancer. Cox's proportional hazard analysis established correlations between the following: (1) positive surgical margin and biochemical recurrence free survival, (2) PSA grade and clinical recurrence free survival, (3) regional lymph node positive and clinical recurrence free survival, (4) adjuvant treatment and overall survival, and (5) pathological T stage and overall survival. CONCLUSION: There is a positive correlation between the expression of UBE2O staining and prognosis for prostate cancer. Thus, a prostate cancer prognosis can be assessed with the expression of UBE2O staining.