Recommended reads: lung stem cells, Utah stem cell law, Ozzy gets cells

We’ve known that most organs have resident stem cell populations for decades, but things have been less clear in the lung and it has only been relatively recently that lung stem cells have been definitively characterized. Why is so important? Lung stem cells, whether endogenous or made in the lab, have the potential to help treat many respiratory diseases. I know from communicating with many patients who’ve reached out, that there’s huge interest in stem cells for COPD and other lung conditions. Two new papers related to lung stem cells, one endogenous and the other lab-grown, give this area a nice boost. Let’s start there.

Lung stem cells

I teach about pulmonary histology here at UC Davis School of Medicine including the lungs.

In that course pulmonary session, we talk quite a bit about different cells and structures including those deep in the lungs. One such structure is called a hillock, which has been somewhat mysterious. We also teach about type I pneumocytes, which could have relevance for lung repair. This week we have papers on both hillocks and type I pneumocytes, in each case related to stem cells.

• Airway hillocks are injury-resistant reservoirs of unique plastic stem cells, Nature.
• Generation of human alveolar epithelial type I cells from pluripotent stem cells, Cell Stem Cell.

It’s cool that hillocks have stem cells, which could have reparative functions.

Some also speculated that type I pneumocytes might have stem or progenitor-like properties. Type I pneumocytes cover all of the alveolar surfaces of the lungs, where gas exchange happens. These super thing cells along with thing endothelial cells lining lung capillaries, together bring gas in the lungs close to blood. If you can make unlimited numbers of type I pneumocytes in the lab, they could be used for repair as well with transplant.

Other recommended reads

• Opinion: As stem cell biologists, we’re concerned an Utah law will lead to a boom in snake oil sales. This is a Salt Lake Tribune opinion piece by stem cell biologists Sean Morrison and Gerald Spangrude on the risky new Utah stem cell law. Beginning May 1 the law says it’s OK to sell non-FDA-approved placental cell injections in that state. What could go wrong?
• KCNJ2 inhibition mitigates mechanical injury in a human brain organoid model of traumatic brain injury, Cell Stem Cell.
• The pRb/RBL2-E2F1/4-GCN5 axis regulates cancer stem cell formation and G0 phase entry/exit by paracrine mechanisms, Nature Com. My lab studied GCN5 extensively in the past, related to its recruitment by MYC family proteins. Here is one of our articles: N-Myc and GCN5 Regulate Significantly Overlapping Transcriptional Programs in Neural Stem Cells, PLOS One. 
• Ozzy Osbourne says he’s receiving stem cell treatments amid health struggles, USA Today.

• Treating a type 2 diabetic patient with impaired pancreatic islet function by personalized endoderm stem cell-derived islet tissue, Cell Discovery.