Table 1.

Sources of stem cells and their roles in the treatment of kidney diseases.

Sources of stem cells	Disease model	Mechanisms	References
BMSCs	Acute kidney injury	Transdifferentiation	Wong et al.;8
hUCMSC-exosome, ADSCs-exosome, BMSCs-exosome, hAD-MSCs-exosome, UC-MSCs-exosome.	Cisplatin-induced Nephrotoxicity; Diabetic nephropathy; Acute kidney injury; AKI-CKD transmission; High phosphorus-induced vascular smooth muscle cells calcification; Unilateral ureteral obstruction.	paracrine	Guo et al.;28 Zhang et al.;29 Zhu et al.;30 Wang et al.;33 Jia et al.;35 Jin ;36 Kilpinen et al.;80 Zhong et al.;106 Nagaishi et al.107
hUC-MSCs, BMSCs, hUCMSC-exosomes, ASCs, ADSCs-exosome.	Acute kidney injury; Cr (VI)-injured kidney; Diabetic nephropathy; Cisplatin-induced AKI.	Autophagy	Ebrahim et al.;24 Wang et al.;33 Jin et al.;36 Yin et al.;38 Rashed et al.;39 Xiang et al.;40 Tang et al.41
BMSCs, PSC-derived endothelial progenitor cells, uADSCs, hUCMSCs, USCs.	Chromium-injured kidney; Acute kidney injury; Cisplatin-induced acute kidney injury; Rhabdomyolysis-induced acute kidney injury model; Adriamycin nephropathy; Diabetic nephropathy; Unilateral ureteral obstruction; Obesity-associated kidney injury; Renal artery stenosis; Chronic kidney disease.	Anti-apotosis	Jin et al.;36 Yin et al.;38 Rashed et al.;39 Li et al.;48 Song et al.;54 Liu et al.;55 Xie et al.;56 Shen et al.;59 Zhang et al.;60 Zhang et al.;61 Jiao et al.;62 Tian et al.;63 Geng et al.;64 Zhu et al.79
hU-MSCs, iPS-MSCs, BMSCs, hAFS, USCs, ADSCs.	Lupus nephritis; Obesity-associated kidney injury; Cardiorenal syndrome type II; Acute kidney injury.	Anti-inflammation	Li et al.;48 Zhang et al.;60 Tian et al.;63 Vescovo et al.;67 Liu et al.68
MSCs, ADSCs	Acute kidney injury; Unilateral ureteral obstruction; Chronic kidney disease; Diabetic nephropathy; Systemic lupus erythematosus.	Immunoregulation	Shi et al.;73 Vasandan et al.;74 Wang et al.;75 Mittal et al.;76 Xing et al.;77 Rota et al.;78 Li et al.;79 Hamza et al.;80 He et al.81