Composite materials combined with stem cells promote kidney repair and regeneration

Kidney disease is a worldwide public health problem, seriously threatening the quality of life of human beings, mainly including acute kidney injury (AKI), chronic kidney disease (CKD), and end-stage renal disease (ESRD), with a high mortality rate. Current effective treatments include dialysis and kidney transplants, but shortages of donor organs, immune rejection, and other problems have not been effectively addressed. In recent years, stem cells have been extensively studied, due to the proliferation and multi-directional differentiation properties, stem cells have shown great potential for applications in the field of tissue regeneration, which may be an effective means for kidney repair and regeneration. At the same time, the rapid development of composite materials show excellent performance in hemostasis, anti-inflammatory, organoids and kidney scaffolds construction, which is expected to further guide stem cells in promoting kidney repair and regeneration. In this review, we discuss the latest research progress in kidney repair and regeneration from the perspectives of stem cell and extracellular vesicle (EVs) regulation, composite material regulation, composite material combined with stem cells used in tissue engineering kidneys and organoids culture. Besides, we further analyze and summarize the mechanisms as well as pathways. In addition, we raise key issues that currently constrain composites as well as stem cell therapy for kidney disease. Finally, we further discuss the possible future development direction in the field of kidney regeneration.