Irreversible destruction of bronchi and alveoli can lead to multiple incurable lung diseases. Identifying lung stem/progenitor cells with regenerative capacity and utilizing them to reconstruct functional tissue is on...Irreversible destruction of bronchi and alveoli can lead to multiple incurable lung diseases. Identifying lung stem/progenitor cells with regenerative capacity and utilizing them to reconstruct functional tissue is one of the biggest hopes to reverse the damage and cure such diseases. Here we showed that a rare population of SOX9^＋ basal cells （BCs） located at airway epithelium rugae can regenerate adult human lung. Human SOX9^＋ BCs can be readily isolated by bronchoscopic brushing and indefinitely expanded in feeder-free condition. Expanded human SOX9^＋ BCs can give rise to alveolar and bronchiolar epithelium after being transplanted into injured mouse lung, with air-blood exchange system reconstructed and recipient＇s lung function improved. Manipulation of lung microenvironment with Pirfenidone to suppress TGF-β signaling could further boost the transplantation efficiency. Moreover, we conducted the first autologous SOX9^＋ BCs transplantation clinical trial in two bronchiectasis patients. Lung tissue repair and pulmonary function enhancement was observed in patients 3-12 months after cell transplantation. Alto- gether our current work indicated that functional adult human lung structure can be reconstituted by orthotopic transplantation of tissue-specific stem/progenitor cells, which could be translated into a mature regenerative therapeutic strategy in near future.展开更多
文摘Irreversible destruction of bronchi and alveoli can lead to multiple incurable lung diseases. Identifying lung stem/progenitor cells with regenerative capacity and utilizing them to reconstruct functional tissue is one of the biggest hopes to reverse the damage and cure such diseases. Here we showed that a rare population of SOX9^＋ basal cells （BCs） located at airway epithelium rugae can regenerate adult human lung. Human SOX9^＋ BCs can be readily isolated by bronchoscopic brushing and indefinitely expanded in feeder-free condition. Expanded human SOX9^＋ BCs can give rise to alveolar and bronchiolar epithelium after being transplanted into injured mouse lung, with air-blood exchange system reconstructed and recipient＇s lung function improved. Manipulation of lung microenvironment with Pirfenidone to suppress TGF-β signaling could further boost the transplantation efficiency. Moreover, we conducted the first autologous SOX9^＋ BCs transplantation clinical trial in two bronchiectasis patients. Lung tissue repair and pulmonary function enhancement was observed in patients 3-12 months after cell transplantation. Alto- gether our current work indicated that functional adult human lung structure can be reconstituted by orthotopic transplantation of tissue-specific stem/progenitor cells, which could be translated into a mature regenerative therapeutic strategy in near future.
