Israeli scientists grow world’s first long-term human kidney in lab breakthrough

In a global first, Israeli researchers have successfully grown a fully-formed human kidney organoid in the lab that remained stable for 34 weeks – the most long-lasting and complete kidney model ever developed.

Led by Professor Benjamin Dekel of Sheba Medical Centre and Tel Aviv University, the team cultivated the organ using human kidney tissue stem cells. Their findings, published in The EMBO Journal, are expected to transform understanding of how kidneys form, how diseases develop in utero, and how damaged tissue might one day be repaired or replaced.

“We have succeeded for the first time in growing a human kidney in the form of an organoid from the specific stem cells of the kidney,” said Prof. Dekel. “This is in parallel with the maturation process in the uterus that occurs until the 34th week of pregnancy.”

The achievement marks a significant advance over earlier attempts, which relied on pluripotent stem cells – cells that can become any tissue in the body – but which typically failed after a few weeks.

Dekel’s team instead used kidney-specific tissue stem cells that his lab first isolated a decade ago. These cells were able to grow in a 3D culture for over eight months, forming complex kidney structures including blood filters and urinary ducts, in a process known as tubulogenesis.

“Growing a foetal kidney can shed new light on biological processes in general, and in particular on processes that lead to kidney diseases,” said Dekel.

In the lab, researchers were able to block specific cellular signalling pathways and observe the resulting developmental problems – replicating kidney defects seen in patients. “We are actually seeing ‘live’ how a developmental problem leads to kidney diseases that are seen in the clinic,” Dekel explained.

The ability to grow and maintain kidney stem cells outside the body could lay the groundwork for regenerative treatments. “We now have an essentially inexhaustible source of different kidney cells,” he said, “and a better understanding of their different roles in kidney development and function.”

The project was carried out in collaboration with Dr Michael Namestannikov, a doctoral researcher at Tel Aviv University’s Faculty of Medicine, and Dr Osnat Cohen-Sontag, a research associate at Sheba Medical Centre.

Dekel, who directs the Stem Cell Research Institute at Safra Children’s Hospital and the Sagol Centre for Regenerative Medicine, said the findings could eventually lead to lab-grown kidney tissue for transplant or repair – offering new hope to millions affected by kidney failure and congenital disorders.