The hemofilter is made up of silicon semiconductor membranes that remove waste from the blood. Meanwhile, the modified renal tubule cells in the bioreactor regulate water volume, electrolyte balance, and many metabolic activities. Additionally, the membranes protect against the body’s immune system attack. The Kidney Project has previously evaluated each of these components independently; however, this is the first time they are being evaluated concurrently in one device as part of the Artificial Kidney Prize. The bioartificial kidney functions under blood pressure alone, and does not require blood-thinning or immunoregulatory drugs.
Roy is a faculty member in the Department of Bioengineering and Therapeutic Sciences, which is a joint department of the UCSF Schools of Pharmacy and Medicine. He said, “The vision for the artificial kidney is to provide patients with complete mobility and better physiological outcomes than dialysis. It promises a much higher quality of life for millions worldwide with kidney failure.”
The kidney performs a variety of essential functions in the body, including filtration of the toxins and waste products from the blood and regulating blood pressure, electrolyte levels, and other internal fluids. Duplicating these processes gets harder as these organs begin to degrade. As a result, patients regularly undergo dialysis, which is inconvenient as well as time consuming. However, kidney transplantation is a longer-term treatment that can improve quality of life but necessitates the use of immune-suppressive drugs to avoid rejection. The artificial kidney developed by the Kidney Project would mimic the great quality of life experienced by kidney transplant patients and will do away with the necessity for immunosuppressive medications.
Roy explained about the artificial kidney. He said, “Our team engineered the artificial kidney to sustainably support a culture of human kidney cells without provoking an immune response. Now that we have demonstrated the feasibility of combining the hemofilter and bioreactor, we can focus on upscaling the technology for more rigorous preclinical testing, and ultimately, clinical trials.”
The KidneyX Artificial Kidney Prize encouraged scientists and engineers to develop continuous kidney replacement therapies that go beyond existing dialysis procedures, a goal that UCSF’s artificial kidney is on pace to accomplish in the future. B. Joseph Guglielmo, UCSF School of Pharmacy Dean, PharmD, expressed delight over the award. He said, “This award is a testament to The Kidney Project’s bold vision and execution of a viable solution for millions of patients with kidney failure”.
