American scientists have identified for the first time a type of stem cells in the lung that is capable of self-regenerating lung structures such as bronchioles, the alveoli where oxygen and carbon dioxide are exchanged, and blood vessels. The study, coordinated by the director of the Center for Regenerative Medicine at Brigham and Women's Hospital in Boston (USA), Piero Anversa, "could offer new treatments to people suffering from chronic lung diseases by repairing damaged areas of these organs."
The researchers, announcing their finding in the New England Journal of Medicine , identified and isolated human cells in the lungs that contained a protein called c-kit , which can identify cardiac stem cells in the heart. In the lungs, they found that only one in 6,000 cells in the bronchioles, and one in 30,000 in the alveoli, contained the protein. These cells were cultured in the laboratory to verify that they had the ability to divide and form distinct cells characteristic of the lung . When they then inoculated the human cells into damaged mouse lungs, they observed that they differentiated, forming not only new lung tissue, but also seamlessly integrating with existing, healthy structures.
