近日，教授Nils O. Lindstrm及其团队研制了用合成的分泌Wnt的组织者对人类肾类器官进行图像化。该项研究成果发表在2026年7月2日出版的《科学》上。

利用人类肾脏发育的空间转录组学，该课题组发现新生肾单位建立了一个与WNT11-WNT9B信号边界相邻的远极性收集管。将工程化的分泌Wnt的细胞组织者引入肾类器官，恢复了这种组织几何结构，使远端肾元分化偏倚，并使肾元形态发生向信号源方向发展，这表明发育信号几何结构可以综合重建以控制组织模式。

据悉，人类干细胞衍生的微型器官，包括肾类器官，复制了组织发育的各个方面，但缺乏可靠的空间模式。在胚胎中，空间组织通常是由产生形态发生场的发育组织者建立的。然而，这种组织几何结构在肾脏肾脏形成中是如何运作的，以及它是否可以在体外重建，目前仍不清楚。

附：英文原文

Title: Patterning human kidney organoids with synthetic Wnt-secreting organizers

Author: Connor C. Fausto, Fokion Glykofrydis, Navneet Kumar, Jack Schnell, Reka L. Csipan, Faith De Kuyper, Minnal Kunnan, Brendan Grubbs, Matthew Thornton, Michael Thompson, Enmian Chang, Xuduo Wen, Manuel Pelayo, MaryAnne Achieng, Anoothi Seth, Kelly Street, Leonardo Morsut, Nils O. Lindstrm

Issue&Volume: 2026-07-02

Abstract: Human stem cell–derived miniature organs, including kidney organoids, reproduce aspects of tissue development but lack reliable spatial patterning. In embryos, spatial organization is often established by developmental organizers that generate morphogenetic fields. However, how such organizing geometry operates in kidney nephrogenesis—and whether it can be reconstructed in vitro—has remained unclear. Using spatial transcriptomics of human kidney development, we found that nascent nephrons establish a collecting duct adjacent-to-distant polarity bordering a WNT11-WNT9B signaling boundary. Engineered WNT-secreting cellular organizers introduced into kidney organoids restored this organizing geometry, biasing distal nephron differentiation and orienting nephron morphogenesis toward the signal source, which demonstrates that developmental signaling geometry can be reconstructed synthetically to control tissue patterning.

DOI: adu9122

Source: https://www.science.org/doi/10.1126/science.adu9122