Tissue Engineered Renal Tissue

It is estimated that 5–10 million people die annually from kidney disease. Astounding as these numbers are, it is predicted that these numbers will only grow especially in countries that lack the infrastructure to support its treatments. In spite of this increasing prevalence, current treatments for renal failure are still limited to dialysis and donor organ transplantation. Although these treatments are indeed lifesaving, dialysis does not fully restore kidney function, and a worldwide shortage of transplantable kidneys poses a great problem. To address these issues, the field of regenerative medicine has aimed for many years to develop treatments in the areas of tissue engineering, cell therapies, and gene therapies. In this chapter, we will discuss developments in one such strategy of engineering a cell-based renal tissue construct capable of restoring all kidney function with a focus on possible cell sources, materials, and vascularization strategies.