Extracellular Vesicles and Cell Therapies in Regenerative Nephrology and Urology

A special issue of Cells (ISSN 2073-4409). This special issue belongs to the section "Cell Microenvironment".

Deadline for manuscript submissions: 15 December 2025 | Viewed by 85

Special Issue Editors


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Guest Editor
Shonan Kamakura General Hospital, Kamakura, Japan
Interests: precision medicine; extracellular vesicles (EVs); vasculogenesis; cell transplantation therapy; stem cell transplantation

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Guest Editor
Translational Center for Regenerative Medicine, University of Turin, Torino, Italy
Interests: extracellular vesicles; nano-extracellular vesicles; renal diseases; nephrology; regenerative medicine

Special Issue Information

Dear Colleagues,

Extracellular vesicles (EVs) and cellular therapies are converging to redefine regenerative nephrology and urology. EVs released by renal, immune, and vascular cells carry bioactive cargo proteins, lipids, and microRNAs that orchestrate inflammation, fibrosis, tubular injury, immune modulation, and repair. Their disease-specific signatures in urine and blood enable minimally invasive diagnostics and dynamic monitoring across acute kidney injury (AKI), chronic kidney disease (CKD), diabetic kidney disease, glomerulopathies, polycystic kidney disease, obstructive uropathy, and transplant rejection. In parallel, cell-based interventions (e.g., mesenchymal stromal cells, endothelial/epithelial progenitors, iPSC-derived products, immune-modulatory cells) are advancing toward clinical use; mounting evidence suggests EVs mediate a substantial fraction of their therapeutic effects, inspiring cell-free and EV-engineered strategies with improved safety, stability, and targeting. This Special Issue invites original research, reviews, and methods papers spanning EV biology and cargo function; urinary EV biomarkers; engineered and targeted EVs; synergy between EVs, cell therapies, and biomaterials; manufacturing, characterization, and quality control (GMP readiness, potency assays); and regulatory and ethical considerations. We also particularly welcome multi-omics, single-cell/spatial approaches, imaging, and AI/ML pipelines for biomarker discovery, patient stratification, and treatment-response prediction. Our goal is to bridge mechanisms with translation and accelerate precise, scalable EV- and cell-based therapeutics for kidney health.

Dr. Amankeldi Salybekov
Dr. Ciro Tetta
Guest Editors

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Keywords

  • extracellular vesicles (EVs)
  • microRNA (miRNA)
  • acute kidney injury (AKI)
  • chronic kidney disease (CKD)
  • glomerulonephritis
  • kidney transplantation
  • fibrosis
  • mesenchymal stromal cells (MSCs)
  • engineered EVs
  • single-cell and spatial omics
  • machine learning and artificial intelligence;
  • precision nephrology
  • GMP manufacturing
  • regenerative medicine
  • biomarkers
  • artificial intelligence (AI)

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Published Papers

This special issue is now open for submission.
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