Abstract:
Peritoneal dialysis(PD) is one major treatment for patients with end-stage renal disease(ESRD). Long-term PD predisposes to peritoneal inflammation, epithelial-mesenchymal transition(EMT), angiogenesis, fibrosis and a failure of ultrafiltration and dialysis. Recent studies have demonstrated that mesenchymal stem cells(MSCs) are promising for treating PD-associated peritoneal fibrosis as clinical applications of stem cells become more sophisticated. Capable of self-renewal and multilineage differentiation, MSCs could arrest the progression of PD-related peritoneal fibrosis through blunting immune and inflammatory responses and modulating EMT and fibrosis pathways. This review summarized the underlying mechanisms, outstanding issues and future prospects of the role of MSCs during PD.