MPS World Summit 2022: in vitro model of podocyte damage

An early indication of kidney damage is the appearance of protein in the urine (proteinuria). In some cases the damage can resolve by itself, but in others a progressive loss of kidney function leads to Chronic Kidney Disease (CKD), for which there is no cure.

The glomerulus is the structure in the kidney that filters waste products and small molecules from the blood into the urine. Podocytes have long finger-like processes that wrap around the blood vessels of the glomerulus to form a size-selective sieve. Damage to these cells enlarges the size of the holes in the filter, leading to proteinuria. Experiments to examine the causes of proteinuria use live rodents, and currently available in vitro models of glomerular cells are poor. In response to this, we have developed an MPS model of the glomerular filtration barrier (GFB) with proteinuria as a read-out.

Find out more about our glomerulus model here