Evaluation of bioartificial renal tubule device prepared with human renal proximal tubular epithelial cells cultured in serum-free medium

Bioartificial renal tubule devices (BTD) use cell therapy to improve conditions commonly observed in recipients of artificial kidneys for treatment of kidney diseases. We previously reported significant improvement of the condition of acute kidney injury (AKI) animals after treatment with BTD prepared with lifespan-extended human renal proximal tubular cells (hRPTEC). However, a major obstacle to use of BTD for patients is their biological safety, because hRPTEC are cultured in medium containing fetal calf serum. To establish the biological safety of BTD, we prepared BTD with lifespan-extended hRPTEC cultured in a newly developed serum-free medium and compared these with BTD prepared with hRPTEC cultured in serum-containing conventional medium. Lifespan-extended hRPTEC cultured in serum-free medium (hRPTEC-SFM) can proliferate similar to hRPTEC cultured in serum-containing conventional medium (hRPTEC-CM). Comparison of leakage and of reabsorption of small molecules for BTD prepared with hRPTEC-SFM (BTD-SFM) with those for our previous BTD prepared with hRPTEC-CM (BTD-CM) showed transportation in these two types of BTD was almost identical. When AKI goats were treated with BTD-SFM for 26 h, increase of survival time and reduction of cytokine expression in blood cells were almost same as for AKI goats treated with BTD-CM. Quantification of the expression of some genes of hRPTEC in BTD revealed significant changes during BTD treatment for AKI goats. In conclusion, lifespan-extended hRPTEC-SFM work as well as hRPTEC-CM, and the biological safety of BTD for patients could be elevated without loss of function by preparation from hRPTEC-SFM.