Activated SOX9+ renal epithelial cells promote kidney repair through secreting factors

Abstract A broad spectrum of lethal kidney diseases involves the irreversible destruction of the tubular structures, leading to renal function loss. Following injury, a spectrum of tissue‐resident epithelial stem/progenitor cells are known to be activated and then differentiate into mature renal cells to replace the damaged renal epithelium. Here, however, we reported an alternative way that tissue‐resident cells could be activated to secrete multiple factors to promote organ repair. At single‐cell resolution, we showed that the resident SOX9+ renal epithelial cells (RECs) could expand in the acutely injured kidney of both mouse and human. Compared to other cells, the SOX9+ RECs overexpressed much more secretion related genes, whose functions were linked to kidney repair pathways. We also obtained long‐term, feeder‐free cultured SOX9+ RECs from human urine and analysed their secretory profile at both transcriptional and proteomic levels. Engraftment of cultured human SOX9+ RECs or injection of its conditional medium facilitated the regeneration of renal tubular and glomerular epithelium, probably through stimulating endogenous REC self‐activation and mediating crosstalk with other renal cells. We also identified S100A9 as one of the key factors in the SOX9+ REC secretome. Altogether, the abilities to extensively propagate SOX9+ RECs in culture whilst concomitantly maintaining their intrinsic secretory capacity suggest their future application in cell‐free therapies and regeneration medicine.