Lung Disease
A cell-based therapy for treating lung tissue damaged by respiratory diseases is showing promise in early stage trials, scientists at Imperial College London and Hong Kong University report. The team, including Research Associate Dr Charis Michaeloudes, found that when these treated lung cells were cultured with the stem cells (see 'Cell-based therapies' side bar), the level of apoptosis reduced, hinting at a protective effect from the stem cells.
I am told I have mild emphysema:COPD I was relatively a symptomatic until last month when chest tightness drove me back to the pulmonary doctor who believes it is not my emphysema that has progressed but that I have developed a sub clinical bronchial asthma.
Researchers delivered stem cells intravenously to b-ENaC overexpressing mice at 4 and 6 weeks of age, before collecting samples tissue and cells from the lungs at 8 weeks. Emphysema is the destruction of the tissue in and surrounding the alveoli in the lungs, which are small fluid-filled sacs responsible for oxygen exchange processes within the lungs.
Because of the destructive, long term nature of COPD, more than one treatment may be needed to reverse the effects of the disease on the lungs. Further studies should help the scientists determine whether cigarette smoke causes lung disease in this setting because of stem cell failure, says Armanios.
It should be stressed, however, that people for whom these factors lead to chronic obstructive pulmonary disease are also smokers. The first intervention for COPD is typically to get patients to stop smoking cigarettes, cure for emphasema since that is the primary cause of the condition in the United States, where 16 million people have been diagnosed with the disease.
In COPD, the cells that line the bronchial tubes and the thousands of tiny air sacs (alveoli”) in the lungs are damaged and do not function properly. Dr. Cona has been performing stem cell therapy for over 10 years. Chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD) is a major global cause of morbidity and mortality, projected to become the 3rd cause of disease mortality worldwide by 2020.
