The KIDSTEM European Research Training Network

The incidence and prevalence of end stage renal disease (ESRD) continues to grow worldwide at a rate that is far in excess of the growth rate of the general population. In children and young adults the most common cause of ESRD is vesicoureteric reflux (VUR), a condition where urine from the bladder re-enters the kidney, predisposing to pyelonephritis, renal scarring, and in the most severe cases, ESRD. However, there is usually a time-window of several years from initial diagnosis of VUR to the development of ESRD, which presents an opportunity to design therapies aimed at preventing disease progression by repairing renal tissue before it becomes nonfunctional. Advances in our understanding of kidney development coupled with recent progress in stem cell science and tissue engineering, present an unprecedented opportunity to design a stem cell-based therapy for this clinical problem. KIDSTEM will investigate the properties of several different stem cell types (kidney stem cells, embryonic stem cells, amniotic fluid stem cells and mesenchymal stem cells) to determine which is most appropriate for the generation of functional renal tissue promoted by specifically designed biomaterials to facilitate the generation of functional nephrons.