Stem Cell based Therapies
for Lung diseases:
Current
advancements in stem cell research allow cell-based therapies in the treatment
of lung diseases. Cell-based therapies
using stem cells to regenerate lung tissue have experienced a rapid growth.
Stem cells are a population of undifferentiated cells characterized by three
main functions: 1) ability of self-renew 2) clonality generally arising from a
single cell 3) potency to differentiate into different type of cells or tissues.
Pluripotent
stem cells have the ability to generate all lineages of body and include
embryonic stem (ES) cells and induced pluripotent stem cells (iPS). Adult lung
is architecturally complex as a hierarchical model of homoeostasis, and is made
up of more than 40 distinct types of cells and it is possible to produce part
of the upper, lower airway or the alveolar tissue. Significant progress has recently been
achieved using decellularized or synthetic scaffolds to generate tracheal
cartilage as well as tendon tissue in diaphragm for clinical application. The
generation of lower airway and alveolar tissues is more challenging and
restricted to animal studies presently. Seeding somatic lung progenitor cells
onto synthetic polymer scaffold in vitro or implanted in vivo promoted cell differentiation.
The in vivo transplantation caused an inflammatory response which disrupted
lung development.
Stem
cell therapy to be a promising approach for chronic lung diseases. Studies have
confirmed the capability of Epithelial stem/progenitor cells ( EpiSPCs), Mesenchymal
stem cell (MSCs), and Endothelial progenitor cells(EPCs) from adult lung to
facilitate tissue repair and regeneration in a number of pulmonary diseases. Stem
cell therapy in lung regenerative medicine is still in its beginning and many
challenges remains to explore.
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