In vitro modeling of renal injury-induced cardiac effects using human iPSC-derived organoids

The bidirectional communication between the heart and kidney is essential for physiological homeostasis, with injury in one organ often impairing the other. Although cardiorenal crosstalk is clinically relevant in conditions such as cardiorenal syndrome (CRS), the underlying molecular and cellular mechanisms remain poorly understood, and in vitro models are lacking. Here, we developed a co-culture system using human induced pluripotent stem cell (hiPSC)-derived kidney organoids (kOs) and cardiac microtissues (cMTs) to model the cardiorenal axis.