Cell Therapy for Idiopathic Pulmonary Fibrosis: Rationale and Progress to Date

AbstractIdiopathic pulmonary fibrosis (IPF) is a devastating disease characterized by progressive lung scarring due to unknown injurious stimuli ultimately leading to respiratory failure. Diagnosis is complex and requires a combination of clinical, laboratory, radiological, and histological investigations, along with exclusion of known causes of lung fibrosis. The current understanding of the disease etiology suggests an interaction between genetic factors and epigenetic alterations in susceptible, older individuals. Prognosis is dismal and current treatment options include anti-fibrotic agents that only slow down disease progression and carry considerable side effects that hamper patients ’ quality of life. Therefore, there is a need for new, more effective treatments, alone or in combination with existing pharmacotherapy. Regenerative medicine, the potential use of cell therapies to treat destructive diseases that cause architectural distortion to the target organ, has also emerge d as an alternative therapeutic for lung diseases with unfavorable prognosis such as IPF. Mesenchymal stem cells (MSCs) and type II alveolar epithelial cells (AEC2s) have been used and their safety has been demonstrated. In the case of MSCs, both homogenic and allogeneic sources have been used and b oth are considered viable options without immunosuppressive therapy, taking into consideration the absence of immunogenicity and HLA response. AEC2s have been used in one trial with promising results...
Source: BioDrugs - Category: Drugs & Pharmacology Source Type: research