There is no author summary for this article yet. Authors can add summaries to their articles on ScienceOpen to make them more accessible to a non-specialist audience.
Abstract
Respiratory diseases are a major cause of mortality and morbidity worldwide. Current
treatments offer no prospect of cure or disease reversal. Transplantation of pulmonary
progenitor cells derived from human embryonic stem cells (hESCs) may provide a novel
approach to regenerate endogenous lung cells destroyed by injury and disease. Here,
we examine the therapeutic potential of alveolar type II epithelial cells derived
from hESCs (hES-ATIICs) in a mouse model of acute lung injury. When transplanted into
lungs of mice subjected to bleomycin (BLM)-induced acute lung injury, hES-ATIICs behaved
as normal primary ATIICs, differentiating into cells expressing phenotypic markers
of alveolar type I epithelial cells. Without experiencing tumorigenic side effects,
lung injury was abrogated in mice transplanted with hES-ATIICs, demonstrated by recovery
of body weight and arterial blood oxygen saturation, decreased collagen deposition,
and increased survival. Therefore, transplantation of hES-ATIICs shows promise as
an effective therapeutic to treat acute lung injury.