Kidney patients who depend on hemodialysis and hemofiltration face decreased quality of life and high morbidity and mortality rates. These artificial renal replacement therapies are incapable of complete replacement of kidney function. They could potentially benefit from supplementation with the active functions of human renal proximal tubular epithelial cells (HPTC). Initial attempts have been undertaken to implement such an approach in the clinic in the form of tissue engineered living bioartificial kidneys. These consist of conventional hemofilters with HPTC seeded inside the hollow fibers of these filters. To improve adhesion of the HPTC to the non-adhesive filter material a cell adhesive coating is applied. The desired clinical benefits were however not achieved as a consequence of insufficient preservation of natural cell function. To improve this, a biomaterial that allows better mimicry of the natural substrate of these cells, the basement membrane (BM), was desired.

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