Study Reveals Underlying Lung Damages from COVID-19 and Pulmonary Fibrosis

Unique stem cell trajectory in lungs that are damaged by COVID-19 and pulmonary fibrosis has been uncovered by a study at the University of California San Francisco Medical Center, published in the journal Nature Cell Biology. COVID-19 related lung damage is triggers abnormal stem cell repair that alters the lung architecture and thus prevents the restoration of normal lung function.

The study moreover discovered that this abnormal differentiation of stem cells may offer a roadmap to understand how severely injured lungs can remodel and scar, thereby providing a potential pathway to reverse the remodeling by targeting the abnormal stem cells differentiation.

The team found that human alveolus — AEC2s (hAEC2s) robustly transdifferentiate into functional basal cells with cues from pathological fibroblasts.

"The first time we saw hAEC2s differentiating into basal cells, it was so striking that we thought it was an error. But rigorous validation of this novel trajectory has provided enormous insight on how the lung remodels in response to severe injury, and a potential path to reverse the damage,” says Tien Peng, MD, UCSF.

The study thereby provides the groundwork for future research to identify therapeutic targets that might prevent or reverse metaplastic differentiation in severe lung injury.

Source-Medindia