Embryonic stem cell-derived extracellular vesicles promote the recovery of kidney injury

BACKGROUND: Embryonic stem cell-derived extracellular vesicles (ESC-EVs) possess therapeutic potential for a variety of diseases and are considered as an alternative of ES cells. Acute kidney injury (AKI) is a common acute and severe disease in clinical practice, which seriously threatens human life and health. However, the roles and mechanisms of ESC-EVs on AKI remain unclear. METHODS: In this study, we evaluated the effects of ESC-EVs on physiological repair and pathological repair using murine ischemia-reperfusion injury-induced AKI model, the potential mechanisms of which were next investigated. EVs were isolated from ESCs and EVs derived from mouse fibroblasts as therapeutic controls. We then investigated whether ESC-EVs can restore the structure and function of the damaged kidney by promoting physiological repair and inhibiting the pathological repair process after AKI in vivo and in vitro. RESULTS: We found that ESC-EVs significantly promoted the recovery of the structure and function of the damaged kidney. ESC-EVs increased the proliferation of renal tubular epithelial cells, facilitated renal angiogenesis, inhibited the progression of renal fibrosis, and rescued DNA damage caused by ischemia and reperfusion after AKI. Finally, we found that ESC-EVs play a therapeutic effect by activating Sox9(+) cells. CONCLUSIONS: ESC-EVs significantly promote the physiological repair and inhibit the pathological repair after AKI, enabling restoration of the structure and function of the damaged kidney. This strategy might emerge as a novel therapeutic strategy for ESC clinical application. SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION: The online version contains supplementary material available at 10.1186/s13287-021-02460-0.