Which animals? If it works in them it hopefully will work with humans.
From the article:
To date, the only bioartificial kidney that has shown efficacy in human trials has been the RAD developed by Humes. The RAD demonstrated the proof-of-concept that a biomimetic device could be used to treatment kidney failure. However, the extra-corporeal RAD is impractical for implantable therapy due to characteristics of hollow-fiber dialysis membranes and cumbersome machinery used in the system. Therefore, SNM were developed with unprecedented hydraulic permeability that negates the need for an internal pump and compact geometry that enables an implantable system. Additionally, the BRECS demonstrates that it is possible to overcome many of the logistical obstacles associated with cell therapy. Together, the iRAD concept and advances in the BRECS are advancing towards the goal of making an implantable bioengineered kidney a viable reality.
Conclusions
Renal replacement therapy is an early pioneer in organ replacement. Dialysis, to this day, remains the only long-term extra-corporeal treatment system that is able to provide life-sustaining therapy for a failing organ. This in turn has allowed patients to live for years awaiting a donor kidney on the transplant list. Currently, innovative research is being conducted to address the numerous shortcomings of current renal replacement therapy. These approaches aim to create a fully functional kidney replacement utilizing a cell based therapy approach. Early work has shown promise by developing functional kidney tissue and even prolonging survival following transplantation in animals. Human studies have shown that a cell bioreactor can improve patient’s mortality in acute kidney injury. Despite these early successes, there are obstacles to overcome before a bioartificial kidney will become standard of care. A major issue for the field is cell sourcing. There are ethical concerns over using human embryos and fetal cells for organ development. Furthermore, logistical problems regarding cell-sourcing including cell quantity, cryopreservation, storage and distribution remain before wide-spread adoption can occur. There also remain questions regarding scaffold design and architecture. Additionally, transplantation of donor cells will always raise concerns over immune response in the recipient. Finally, the field will need to move beyond rodents and demonstrate the feasibility of their techniques in larger animals and eventually humans. The current landscape for the development of a bioartificial kidney remains robust with promising new technologies on the horizon. However, the development is still nascent with additional work needed to demonstrate viability in human patients.
Sounds like this technology is not ready for human use yet, but what do I know? I’m not a research nephrologist.
Sounds like he would be better off with standard renal transplant.