Abstract:

Chronic kidney disease (CKD) has become the global health care burden with increasing growth rate every year, and now there is no effective treatment to impede the progress of CKD. Regenerative cell based therapies bring new hope for CKD. Endothelial progenitor cells (EPCs) contribute to neovasculogenesis, while mesenchymal stem cells (MSCs) also haave proangiogenic ability in addition to antiinflammatory and antifibrosis, both of them are commonly used for stem cell therapies. Recently, EPCs and MSCs make research boom in kidney disease. This review highlights current knowledge on EPCs and MSCs function and biology features, and reveals their opportunities and challenges in treatment of CKD.

Key words: chronic kidney disease, stem cell therapy, endothelial progenitor cell, mesenchymal stem cell